For a tree to become tall
by MusoukaS
Summary: Chapter 15. Preoccupied.
1. Hello stranger

**Title:** For a tree to become tall, it must grow tough roots among the rocks.  
**Genre:** Romance  
**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I do not own Naruto nor it's characters. I'm only borrowing them for a little wee while until I finish this fanfiction and borrow them for another one.  
**Warning!:** Yaoi ahead in this story. Press the lovely 'x' button if you do not support it.

* * *

Tenzou had just finished a mission, quite frankly, he already was on his way back to Konoha when a bird suddenly circled above him. It caught his attention and when he looked up, the bird took a dive and landed upon his shoulder with perfect coordination and balance, offering him it's leg and the note that was strapped onto it. He undid the bird of it's burden and opened the message, the bird slightly cooked his head as if he wanted to read along. It was a message from the Fifth Hokage, asking him to return back to Konoha immediately as it was an urgent request. The bird immediately flew away, right before Tenzou disappeared and appeared into the Fifth Hokage's order room.

'That was quick', Tsunade suddenly said and raised her head to look at Tenzou's direction.

'I was told it was urgent.'

'I want you to act as Kakashi's temporary replacement,' she entwined her fingers, her elbows carrying all the weight while her gaze pierced fiercely through Tenzou's body.

Tenzou's eyes grew wider behind his ANBU mask, shock was written all over his face. It had been a long time ago when he had seen Kakashi and when they had said their goodbye's. He was quite happy that the Fifth couldn't see the impression written all over his face, 'It's an honor to work in Kakashi's-Senpai's stead.'

'This is a normal mission, not an ANBU mission,' the Fifth warned him and Tenzou nodded understandably, 'So remove your mask and I'll assign you a code name.'

'While on this mission, your name is Yamato,' her piercing gaze watched him attentively behind the entwined fingers as he took his mask off, revealing his now normal expression; beady black eyes, a normal and sharp nose with small lips to go with.

'I understand.'

He left as quickly as possible and without a sound, he re-appeared into his own apartment. He changed his clothes, removed the ANBU mask and put on the proper Jounin outfit; A short-sleeved fishnet as undergarment that was tightly pressed against his muscles. On top of that, he put on a long blue-sleeved shirt, finishing it with the well-known green vest. He matched it with blue pants that ended just below his knees. Bandages followed the trail and ended above his feet, being perfectly done. He wore open blue sandals and smirked at himself as he watched his portrait in the mirror across him, finishing his outfit by placing a blue mask on his face that hid his chin.

He placed his hands at his sides and grinned some more, clearly being excited to see his Senpai again later on this afternoon for the first time since their departure, but first, he was going to meet Team 7, 'Let's go!'

xxx

Tenzou was rubbing into his eyes with his thumb and index finger as he followed a familiar trail towards the hospital, meeting Team 7 had been a constant drag. It had seemed that Naruto-kun and Sai had met before, apparently an unpleasant meeting as well. Sai insulted both of his teammates, causing them to want to hit him. Playing referee like that is no fun, especially when you're trying to be their captain. He had only one hour to prepare himself and to come up with a technique that would work against his new team members.

'Ugh,' he sighed to himself as he straightened up and placed both hands in his pockets. He disappeared and re-appeared in front of the hospital, greeting the Hokage and her assistant, Shizune, 'Sorry to have kept you waiting'.

The fifth had crossed her arms and looked far beyond happy. 'You're late', she said, more as warning than an announcement.

His eyes were immediately focused on the ground, trying to fight back the urge to look into her death-piercing glare, if he did, it would've resulted in him being hit to death with that enormous power of hers. His right hand was placed against his chin, as if he was trying to think back and coughed tensed before he spoke, 'I got held up a bit'.

Her eyebrows knotted at first but relaxed, she scoffed a little and looked in front of her before walking inside, 'Whatever. Kakashi's waiting'. Both Tenzou and Shizune followed her lead. As they walked over to Kakashi's room, no one spoke. When reaching the door, the Fifth knocked impatiently, 'We're here, Kakashi'.

'Come in,' Kakashi responded as he placed his romantic porn novels on the stand beside his bed.

Shizune opened the door and the Fifth stepped into the room, followed by Tenzou. However, while entering, Tenzou stopped in the doorway, taking the sight before him in his mind with strict eyes before continuing his pace. A smile appeared upon his face, 'Long time no see, Senpai'.

Kakashi's eye grew wider from disbelief, 'You're…,' he paused and regained himself while the others came closer, 'I see. So you're the one she called Yamato. I see'.

Tenzou stood beside his bed, his expression more than serious, 'Yes. Yamato will be my code name while working as the interim captain for your team'.

Kakashi sighed a little under his breath while he spoke, 'Yamato, huh?'

Tsunade knitted her eyebrows, looking rather strict and the same strictness portrayed in her voice, 'I brought Yamato here because there's something he needs to know if he's going to act as Team Kakashi's captain'.

'Hmm?,' Tenzou's eyes were suddenly directed at the Fifth in pure interest and curiosity.

'And it's the main reason why you were chosen to be Kakashi's substitute,' Jiraiya suddenly said as his glare was keeping a close eye on Tenzou, as if he didn't trust the man before him.

Tenzou looked up, now focusing on Jiraiya, 'Is it about Naruto-kun?'

Kakashi nodded with eyes closed, looking rather peaceful compared to the other two, 'Exactly'.

xxx

An hour later, everyone was at the great Konoha gate. It was a nice summer day as the clouds slowly passed them by, the sky was bright blue and they were quiet but all were set to go. Tenzou had been fully informed about Naruto and the Nine-Tails.

Naruto pouted his lips, 'You're on time'.

Tenzou rubbed his temple with his index finger while sweat started to form there, 'Hai, that's one of the traits I didn't get accustomed to,' he turned around with a grin before they could ask any further.

'Okay,' he paused as birds suddenly flew up in the sky and made a brief moment of sound, causing everyone to turn around and look at them, 'Team Kakashi, we head out now,' he continued with a strict tone as he turned round again and started to walk away from the gate.

Slowly but surely, all followed.

* * *

**A/N; ****My thanks goes to BigFakeSmile here on Fanfiction for coming up with the idea, I hope you like it so far! Another one goes to Koutou on DeviantArt, she's a great friend and always helps me out when I'm being annoying and need her opinion on something.**

**Anyway, the title is actually a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, Koutou came up with a tree that suddenly changes (you'll get this later on) and I came across it. I let people vote and eventually, this one came out. I really love it and I suck at making up titles.**

**You might recognize the lines/scenes or whatever, that's simply because I decided to start with Shippuuden episode 35, where they see each other again. I'll keep following the line but hopefully not as much as I did with this first chapter. Stay tuned!**

**p.s. You might've thought this but yes, in the beginning - I wanted to let the bird shit/poop/crap (or whatever you use) on Tenzou before he sat on his shoulder but I wanted to keep it normal.**


	2. Old bonds never seem to fade away

**Chapter 2; Old bonds between a student and his mentor never seem to fade away. **

Team Kakashi had came back after a few days.

---

Jiraiya opened the hospital door with one of his perverted grins, he quickly entered and closed it behind him with the same speed.

'Hmm?,' Kakashi looked up from his novel and noticed the perverted man standing with one of his usual grins, 'They opened another public bath for women ánd men?'

Jiraiya pouted his lips and raised an eyebrow in disappointment, slightly shaking his head, 'No, but I do have some news,' his expression immediately changed to a more serious one, 'Team 7 is back'.

Kakashi regained the interest towards his beloved book he had previously lost when his friend entered the room, clearly lacking the curiosity and interest for Jiraiya's game but he played along anyways to satisfy him, 'And that's bad, because?'

Jiraiya walked across the room towards the window, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes, 'They found Sasuke'.

Immediately, Kakashi placed the book onto the bed sheet that covered his legs and looked up, his lazy eye slightly widened in disbelief, 'Say what? They found Sasuke?!,' he paused to regain himself, eye quickly shifting through the air, not finding a specific point to focus itself onto, 'But, their mission was to...'

Jiraiya straightened himself and opened his eyes, 'That's right. Their mission was to capture the spy Sasori sent to Orochimaru and bring him back to Konoha. The intent being to obtain information on Sasuke and Orochimaru,' he paused and let out a small sigh, 'But Sasori's spy, Yakushi Kabuto, already had the mind control technique placed on him lifted by Orochimaru.'

'And together, they plotted to eliminate Sasori. Though they didn't know that the real Sasori was already dead. Upon encountering Orochimaru, Naruto lost control of his emotions.'

Jiraiya looked intensively at Kakashi before looking down to the floor and spoke with a slight disappointment, 'The fourth-tail appeared, and he went on a rampage. Orochimaru was pushed to his limit while fending off Naruto in his Kyuubi state, and tried to make his escape while Yamato was suppressing the Kyuubi,' he paused again to take a deep breath, 'However, Yamato's clone secretly followed them. The group reached Orochimaru's hideout and snuck inside. While there, they encountered Sasuke and a battle broke out.'

Both were quiet for a few seconds until Kakashi suddenly looked at Jiraiya, fully processing the information his friend has given him and was eager to know more, 'What happened?'

Jiraiya looked away, grinding his teeth and closing his eyes before looked upwards, 'Sasuke's gotten pretty powerful. Naruto was no match for him.'

Kakashi closed his lazy eye, sighed and dropped his head in disappointment, 'I see.'

'Don't let it get you down.'

'That's not it. I also assumed Sasuke would be more powerful than Naruto. Now that he's realized the difference between himself and Sasuke, he'll be even more revved up for training,' Kakashi turned his head to look outside for a moment. It was sunny, quiet and peaceful there, he turned his head back, 'Anyways, let's just be glad they all returned safely.'

Jiraiya nodded in agreement and grinned, Kakashi did the same.

xxx

After visiting Kakashi, Team 7 and Team 10 went to the barbecue as Asuma had kindly offered to pay this round for them. Asuma had finished discussing over Naruto and had left as well, leaving Kakashi all alone now – until someone suddenly knocked upon his door.

'Come in,' Kakashi immediately responded with his normal, yet cold, tone, never letting his gaze wander off his book.

The door opened and revealed that it had been Tenzou who knocked, 'Hellooo Senpai,' he said with a warm and welcoming smile. A blush had been on his cheeks when he'd entered, fingers nervously scrapping the back of his skull.

The voice was all too familiar to him and he immediately looked up, his one bare eye closing and grinning widely, 'Ah, Tenzou, it's nice to see you again!,' he placed his book beside him on the stand, 'What did I do to earn this visit from you?'

Tenzou hiccupped, 'Well, Senpaaiiiii, I wanted to talk to,' he paused to suppress another hiccup, hand and fingers pressed tightly against his lips, 'you before I left but I had no time. Very busy, you know?', he said, hands slowly disappearing into his pockets. Another warm and inviting grin appeared.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows as his Kohai's behavior seemed a little odd, even after all those years, he was sure he had remembered him differently, 'Are you,' he paused and sniffed a little, clearly smelling the stench, 'Drunk?!', he asked rather, more stated, disgusted.

Tenzou suddenly bent a little, hands slowly going out of his pockets. One, his left hand, was pressed awkwardly into his side, the other in front of him, index finger pointing at Kakashi, 'You might want to say tha..t,' Tenzou suddenly started to move his hand, as if he was a teacher, Kakashi was the bad student and he was trying to teach him a lesson, 'But, I didn't drink,' Kakashi's eyebrow suddenly got raised a little higher, causing Tenzou to react, '…much…'

The eyebrow remained raised, 'I can smell it from here'.

Tenzou swallowed hard, straightened himself. Both of his hands were now at his sides, head slightly crooked and bent, 'You have a super nose, joined with porn senses'. He giggled at his own too-sad-for-words humor, body shaking heavily in response, almost falling down.

Kakashi knotted his eyebrows as he tried to understand his former student - not saying a word, but clearly requesting a fairly good reason or argument for Tenzou's irresponsible behavior.

'Your team, ' Tenzou pointed again with his index finger while he got closer and eventually, hit the bed, causing him to fall forwards. His face now rested between Kakashi's knees. He lifted his head up, still pointing angrily, 'Sucks! And I don't mean the whole 'suction' idea, noooo,' he used a very annoying tone to make sure his protest was clear and thick enough to hear, tipping Kakashi's nose with his index finger with every word that came out of his mouth, 'I'm like a freakin' babysitter, they fight over the littlest and stupidest things EVER. They're 16 for Pete's sake!'

Kakashi, now purely annoyed, disgusted and slightly confused, softly grabbed his friends hand to stop the tipping, 'I take it that it didn't went well.' Tenzou scoffed in disagreement, ' _'Didn't went well'_ is an understatement, my friend!'

'Sshh,' Kakashi tried to lower his students voice, who seemed all too eager to share his story in this drunken mood with the whole hospital, 'All right –', Tenzou cut him off.

'And on top of that, I got hurt!' A little and whining baby would've been nothing against the sudden yammering, whining, sobbing, kicking, hitting and so on, Tenzou suddenly started to produce.

Kakashi sighed, eyes closing in annoyance and embarrassment while he mentally hit himself, _'Looks who's the babysitter now'_. He opened his eyes again and started to stroke Tenzou's hair, trying to calm him down and softly whispering, 'Shhh, it's okay' _– Genins/Babies would calm down if you give them affection and say nice words to them, why wouldn't it work now? However, his behavior was even worse than a Genin or a baby, for that fact.  
_  
But Tenzou did respond to it. He suddenly lay still, leaning into the warm touch of his friend and purring as a kitten, breathing the thick alcohol smell towards Kakashi's face. It had caused him to be disgusted earlier but now, he felt like puking his guts out. He sighed under his breath, removing his hand from Tenzou's head, 'Off you go, Kohai'. Tenzou immediately looked up at him – eyes full with blame. Sweat began to form on Kakashi's temples, 'You should really go home and sleep it all out of your system'.

Tenzou hiccupped again, 'I don't think I can walk anymore', his legs had been dangling towards the floor the whole time. Kakashi nodded, his good eye slightly closed in excitement, 'That's all right. I think I've recovered enough to take you home,' being happy to finally have an excuse to leave his bed and the hospital as Lady Tsunade had told him to not do so.

xxx

Going to Tenzou's apartment had been more troublesome than he imagined, Tenzou managed to slip and pull his way with every dent in the sidewalk, pulling Kakashi with him so both would fall over and land hard onto the ground. Full with bruises and such, they entered Tenzou's apartment with difficulty – Kakashi mentally noted to never give a drunken man the task to open a door, he shook his head when he thought back.

They stumbled across the threshold, Tenzou's weight now fully rested on Kakashi, causing him to stumble and almost fall over. _'Easy'_, he told himself as he finally got him over the threshold, _'That's it.'_

'Where's your bedroom?', Kakashi asked between shallow breaths, clearly not in the mood to mask how tired he was after their little walk. Tenzou, on the other hand, was silent. Eyes were closed in peace, mouth was slightly open, causing a small trail of saliva slide down his chin. Kakashi raised his eyebrow as he noticed his friend asleep, _'Great. He passed out'. _He sighed in disbelief.

After dumping Tenzou onto the ground in order to search the bedroom, which already took a while to do, it had cost him even more effort to search for it. He dragged himself up to his feet to walk and stumble around and through the apartment, determination had been written all over his face. After a while, he had finally found it and carried Tenzou to it, lying him gently upon the soft bed. He made sure Tenzou lay under the bed sheet, placing his legs under the sheet with difficulty as Tenzou seemed to have some problems with laying still in his sleep. He was kicking his way into thin air and on occasion, he actually hit Kakashi with one of his legs.

He sighed to himself as he managed to walk to the desk against the wall once he had finished taking care of his dear Kohai. He clearly envied his friend, as he was obviously in the need for some rest as well. Lady Tsunade had been right, he was still far away from a full recovery. He grabbed the chair and turned it around. He sat down on it, legs pressed against each side of the wooden back. He let his arms rest onto the smooth surface of the headrest, resting his own face upon the back of his hands, watching his friend snore and drool in his sleep as sleep slowly started to take over his own conscious being as well.

_Oh, yes, the following morning would be unpleasant for both._

* * *

**Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!**

A/N: Kakashi is such an awesome mentor/friend, isn't he? Very adorable :3. I'm sorry for the late update, I hope the next chapter will be quick enough but I can't make any promises (I caught some strange type of flu as well). I'm not very fond of the chapter myself, but I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

**(The fun part will come in the future, ha ha!)**


	3. You've got to be kidding me!

Tenzou woke up fast the following morning, immediately sitting straight up and breathing heavily. Sweat had began to form it's usual shape on his temples and started to slide down his face afterwards. His head was pounding in a steady and heavy rhythm, as if the Blue man group had begun producing their music inside his head. He lowered his head, resting his forehead onto his hand, 'Ouch'.

It took a while to regain himself, but when he did so, his eyes immediately shifted to his left as they spotted a silhouette sitting near him. He hadn't noticed it before, had he been that drunk that his senses were completely gone and he didn't notice someone else's presence?

He focused his attention at the silhouette, even though it was difficult to do so as he still felt rather sick. As he continued to stare at the silent silhouette, he noticed that it had been his Senpai's, who had been sleeping soundlessly the entire time – even throughout the whole moaning, muttering and such on Tenzou's behalf. The only thing that made sure that he was asleep, was the slow rising and falling of his chest.

Tenzou's face blanked a few seconds before it turned into utter disgust, ''Pervert!'', he clearly thought his Senpai had done, well - different things. As he had shouted the word 'pervert', he had managed to turn a bit round and kick one of the legs from the chair. It's weight was now unbalanced, causing it to fall to one of it's sides – with a certain Copy Nin' still asleep on it.

That was, of course, until the piece of furniture hit the floor with a small thud, the man abruptly rose from his sleep and sat straight up with one of his legs being pinched off due to the position of the said chair. His look was puzzled, clearly trying to figure out what had just happened as he scratched the back of his skull, 'Maaahh?'

He looked around the room, slowly, but surely, he regained his memory back, 'Oh, that's right', he said dully, mentally remembering everything again . Tenzou looked at him with a raised eyebrow and clearly couldn't stand his Senpai's silent behavior, 'What the heck are you doing here?!', he lifted his fists up and clenched them.

He wasn't even sure why he was so furious at his Senpai, but something in his gut simply told him to be – so he did. Kakashi-san always had a funny way to piss people off, especially since the man was so self-absorbed and relaxed, with his nose usually buried in Jiriaya-sama's 'romantic' novel. Of course, the word romantic is a trade name, to hide that it's context is rather… well, beyond being pervert.

Kakashi raised a single hand into the air, shaking and moving it on a fast pace, ''Maah, Tenzou, I don't think you're feeling all that well to actually start a fight with me''.

Tenzou grinded his teeth as he felt his cheeks fluster slightly, he could feel his temper boiling, ''I'm not weak!'' He looked around him, out of despair, he grabbed his pillow and threw it in a straight pitch against Kakashi's head, ''You're recovering, too – ass!''

As the pillow started to slowly slide off his face and eventually tumbled down onto his lap, Kakashi's right eye looked beyond laziness, clearly portraying the oh-so enthusiast he felt about getting hit. ''What was that for?'' he asked calmly.

''Because….. you were sitting there,'' Tenzou pointed towards his Senpai, more specifically to the place where the small piece of furniture had been standing, '' Why were you watching me, you pervert?!''

Kakashi immediately crooked his head and raised his right eye, showing his confusion as the young puppy that he was,'' I wasn't watching you''.

''I don't believe you – you're lying!'', Tenzou furiously said as he got up, but not before he could brush his own shoulder hard against Kakashi's to make him fall down hard onto the floor. He immediately stumbled out of his bedroom, heck – even out of his apartment! Even though it was his own apartment, he just needed to be alone, to get away from everyone, more specifically; his Senpai – that annoying, little pervert.

He placed his hands on his hips as he stood near the entrance of a small park where children would normally play – but strangely enough, they weren't now, he figured it was later in the morning and they had already gone to their classes.

A small grin appeared upon his face, his frustration concerning a certain mentor had been immediately forgotten as he entered the park and took place on a swing, softly rocking back and forth on that thing as his feet dug deeply into the soft soil – his mind was clearly at peace as he watched the clouds dance around and with each other in the bright blue sky.

**-xxx-xxx-xxx-**

Kakashi sighed heavily to himself as he got up, finally letting the blood veins in his legs to breath freely and continue his blood circulation again. '' What was that all about? '', he muttered to himself as he touched his hip.

It had been asleep the whole time, so walking had been pretty painful for the Copy Ninja. However, there were more worse things than this, he actually feared for his life as Lady Tsunade had told him to not leave his hospital bed – and, unfortunately for him, he had done so to bring his Kohai back home. And Tenzou had been very ungrateful for it, too.

He did manage to get back to the hospital and to his room – still unharmed, aside from his aching and pounding leg. As he climbed into his bed, his lazy eye suddenly caught a glimpse in the shadows.

As she knew her presence had been noted, she came out of the shades with her arms crossed before her chest –and Kakashi mentally noted that that had been a very difficult task to do so, seeing as her breasts were quite large, ''Where were you? I thought I had given you specific orders''.

Kakashi settled himself in the bed, lying down with the pillow under his head, ''Well, you know how I think about orders, don't you?''

Tsunade looked far beyond pleasant as she pouted her lips, resting her hands onto her hips as she leaned forward (obviously, the whole strict look didn't work for her due to her size of her breasts, which made the 'I'm-crossing-my-arms-because-I'm-so-pissed-at-you-for-not-listening-to-me-and-shit-I-have-my-period-so-I-need-a-victim--I-never-liked-you-anyways- appearance a little more lenient, that's why she was now trying the 'I'm-showing-you-my-boobs-so-hopefully-you'll-fall-for-that-and-will-always-be-my-perverted-servant-or-I'm-telling-on-you act. And that was already impossible, seeing as she possessed the highest rank of Ninja in the whole Fire country, but nonetheless, Kakashi mentally noted), ''Probably better than most of your so-called friends, Ka'shi''.

''Hmnnm,'' Kakashi agreed, not in the mood to disagree - knowing the fierce and brute power of the woman in front of him, as he grabbed his book from his side and started to flip through the pages to continue on his reading.

''Oh,'' he added nonchalant and rather dull and lazy, ''Could you please stand normal? It's obviously killing you to stand like that, seeing as there's more weight at the front of you than at your back. Gravity is an ass, I know''.

Even though everyone in the village was well aware of her powers – mentally, physically and with her chakra, he was actually the only one who wasn't afraid of them. This caused many disagreements, arguments, discussions and frustrations – mainly on Tsunade's behalf.

Tsunade followed Kakashi's so-called instructions and stood straight, but her hands never left her hips as she approached the weakened Copy Nin', '' You know, that usually works on a guy''.

'' Apparently not on every guy'', he replied with his nose buried deeply into his beloved romantic novel.

She scoffed, her hands tightened their grip on her hips – causing her knuckles to appear white, '' Well, that makes you the only one, what are you? Gay?''. She scoffed some more, followed by laughter.

This had made Kakashi look up and meet her eyes. As it was silent for a moment, his gaze piercing lazily through hers, and due to this, her laughter stopped and she became more serious – almost nervous, if you'd like to call it.

''You've got to be kidding me, right?'', hoping that Kakashi had been joking since she had been planning to play matchmaker and would have pushed him into going on a date with her 'lovingly', and horrible, niece - seeing as she got some crucial evidence on the man that would turn his ears tomato-red, his cheeks fluster all the way to Africa and his eyes turning in their sockets. Besides, her niece wasn't that awful, sure most men were scared – even if her name was mentioned, but still, if you knew how to deal with people, she wouldn't be that bad. Kakashi had been the perfect match for her.

''I'm not'', he said dully as he regained his interest back at the book, turning the page, '' I'm a man of many things, but being a joker isn't one of them – by far. Why do people always suspect that of me?''.

He asked this to no one in particular, hoping that someone would actually answer it, but no one did.

Tsunade's mouth fell open. As she looked stunned and perplexed at him for a while, examining every inch of his body, she came to a conclusion and regain her professionalism, ''Well, that figures some things''.

''Hmmnn?''

''Never mind,'' she grinned to herself as she couldn't wait to spill the beans and tell Shizune, _and practically everyone else who was willing to hear this juicy secret, _all the spoofs, dirty details and so on about what had just happened, '' I'll come back later this week to check up on you''.

Kakashi nodded in agreement, hoping that this would make her leave the room more quickly (and she did, just not for thát reason) so that he could enjoy his book in peace.

Poor Kakashi had always been completely blunt to certain things –especially when it came to women. Even though he might've been gay, he never understood them. How little did he know, and had been prepared for, that there would be all sorts of rumors the next day involving him, kinky material and certain men from Konoha.

* * *

**A/N:  
I really feel sorry for Tenzou, poor dude. As for Kakashi – well, that's a shocker, ain't it? xD. Somewhere in my mind, I have always pictured Kakashi as a homosexual and Tenzou as bisexual – I'm not sure why…**

So, I'll be starting from Episode 55 (Shippuuden) in the next chapter, well – it will include some of those quotes, events/happenings and so on. The usual, you know.

Hopefully you'll like it so far; let me know what you think and hit that review button – I'm actually sincerely interested in what you think. Does it suck? Do you like it? If not, why not? I need to know how I can improve here, guys!


	4. You ugly 'ho!

**Warning:** the following story you're about to read, is taking a rather… interesting development here. If you're easily offended, click away while you still can!

* * *

Immediately after leaving Kakashi's hospital room, Tsunade quickly made her way towards the Hokage tower and, more importantly, her assistant. Her goal had been set as she ran through the village. As she finally approached her target, she immediately shouted, 'Shizune, you will never believe what I've just heard!'

Oh, yes. This had started the gossiping throughout Konoha. Who would know that Shizune wasn't that good in keeping secrets? Tsunade sure didn't.. or did she?

The next morning, everyone in the village would know about this so-called secret , well, everyone except a certain blonde-haired boy with bright blue eyes and his new, yet naïve, sensei.

**-x-x-x-**

It had been a very bright morning – not a single cloud had been spotted in the sky and yet, there had been some danger heading their way. Sneaking secretly upon them behind their backs and was about to jump out of the bushes like some old geezer, who probably just lost his mind – it was either thát, or it had been Gai, who was spreading his youthful love.

Nonetheless, the villagers had been gossiping as busy bees, ears as red as tomatoes and twitching provokingly to hear, or catch, the latest developments concerning dear ol' Kakashi and his dominatrix, or submissive, skills.

Kakashi had still been recovering at the hospital, unaware of the danger that haunted him (_Gai had been hiding in the bushes with excellent view, peeking through the window and simply for the purpose to see for himself if Kakashi had really been gay) _as he lay in his bed, reading his beloved romance novel. He found it rather suspicious that several women, nurses, kept entering his room and asked him if he wanted a sponge bath, especially due to the fact that, most of the times, the previous sponge bather had just left the room a few minutes earlier. Of course, he didn't put much thought to it – women had been always interested in him, for some odd reason, even though he had always been reluctant to show any affection towards these 'fan girls'. He simply didn't care.

As the door slid open, Kakashi didn't even bother to look up again as he had done so the previous times – quite frankly, his door had been closing and opening quite a few times the last hour. Instead, he immediately cut straight to the point, '' You can leave; I already had about 13 sponge bathes by now''.

The person didn't budge, quite frankly, she kept standing there and suddenly, someone appeared beside her. She crossed her arms before her chest with much difficulty, '' You wish – thát would only happen in your biggest fantasies, Kakashi''.

''Ah, Tsunade-sama,'' he raised one of his eyebrows as the two approached him, he now noticed that it had been Sakura standing beside her mentor, '' You mean that such a scenery would only occur in my nightmares''. A sly, yet smug, grin appeared onto his face, clearly visible – even through his mask.

'' Yeah, yeah, '' she waved the thought away with her hand, '' We came here to check up on you, you might be dismissed from the hospital today''

_Thank god! He's been a pain in the butt ever since he came here._

Kakashi finally had the courage to look up from his book and meet the Fifth's icy gaze, then, his eye shifted onto Sakura. And Sakura, well, she had been standing there, hiding a big part of her face behind a clipboard.

'' Sakura?, '' the behavior of the young, pink-haired Kunoichi had been strange and unlikely, even for Sakura, '' Is there something wrong?''

Obviously, Sakura had heard the juicy details from the gossips and had been blushing like a fresh and new bride, '' N-no, of course not, Kaka'-sensei''.

He raised his eyebrow once again before he continued to focus back onto his novel.

'' How's Asuma-sensei doing?'', Sakura suddenly blurted out of the blue as she focused her attention onto the orange-covered book, wondering why the hell those books would actually interest her superior so deeply as she held the clipboard behind her. Then, she snorted, as she reminded herself that Kakashi had been doing this every since they met and that he was most likely the biggest pervert she would ever know.

Tsunade immediately turned towards Sakura, '' I thought Iruka…'', she cut herself off, before she knew she spoke too much.

_In her opinion - Kakashi just had to suffer a *little* more._

Kakashi looked at his pupil from the corner of his eye before looking at Tsunade, '' I'm not sure about those two, but Asuma is probably hanging out with Kurenai and Iruka..,'' he looked up as if to portray someone in deep thought as he tapped his index finger continuously against his lips, '' I think he's teaching, I mean; that's usually what teacher's do around this hour…''

Tsunade sighed and reluctantly closed the proximity between them, grabbing Kakashi's arm to check him as her eye twitched, _'So.. typical'._

**-x-x-x-x-**

The check-up had been a torture for the famous Copy Nin'. In any way that she could, the Hokage would secretly twist his arm, pinch him or dig her nails into his skin on ways that Sakura wouldn't notice. It was either thát, or she would humiliate him whenever he protested, claiming that he should grow up and should stop acting like a big baby. After all, she still had to find a suitable partner for her niece now due to him coming out of the closet – Kakashi just wasn't aware of both situations and was clearly clueless as to why he had deserved such torture.

Finally, after the endlessly-forever taking torture, Tsunade stepped back with a grin, clearly overwhelmed with joy. '' Everything seems fine'', she said as she placed her hands onto her hips. Sakura just stood beside her, her hands and the clipboard folded before her.

'' Okay, we'll discharge you today'', Tsunade said, with a rather enormous, yet evil, grin that crept the hell out of Kakashi. Kakashi was sure that most people would define it as, 'the rape face'.

After a minute or so, Kakashi had finally regained himself.

'' Is it because you want me to get rid of the extra 'baggage' over there?'', Kakashi said as he turned his head to the left.

Tsunade and Sakura both turned around, noticing that he had meant Naruto. The number one surprising ninja had been lying asleep onto the bed beside Kakashi's, sleeping rather loudly and drooling quite heavily onto the pillow. It was completely wrapped around his body, it looked as if a snake had been attempting to strangle him. Quite frankly, Naruto had been there ever since Kakashi had informed him that he would help the young man with his training.

'' That was a factor'', Tsunade replied, clearly leaving out the fact that she simply wanted his butt out of there.

Sakura looked anything beyond pleasant, '' Naruto. He's been holed up here the whole time, saying that his training could start any minute!''

Suddenly, Naruto's hand started to move downwards, towards his ass and slid into his underwear to, obviously, scratch his butt.

'' I thought I'd have a few days to be lazy… errr, recover at my own house, '' Kakashi turned his head to the left to look at his worn-out novels, clearly pretending to be displeased, '' but I'm completely out of books to read, so we might as well get his training going'', Kakashi turned back to the Fifth and Sakura with a rather lazy stare.

Tsunade grinned again and attempted to fold her arms before her chest, '' Yeah''.

That grin just screamed one thing:  
_Get. Your. Butt. Out. Off. Here. Now._

'' Rasen-!'', someone suddenly shouted through the hospital room.

It had been Naruto.

Sakura immediately turned her face to look at Naruto – ready to explode as she made her way to Naruto. Naruto, who was busy dreaming about his wind technique and flying pink unicorns, suddenly woke up as Sakura shouted right into his ear, '' Wake the hell up, Naruto!''

Immediately, he sat straight up, still holding the pillow as if it was a child he just bared and slowly, but surely, turned his head towards Sakura, sleep still controlling him, '' Ugly whore…''

'' The hell?!'', Sakura, clearly not liking the nicknames he'd given her, suddenly shouted, enraged.

'' Sakura-chan?'', Naruto's eyes suddenly widened as he figured out what he had just done.

**-x-x-x-x-**

The following ten minutes had been very unpleasant for Naruto. Sakura had been showing him every corner of the room, beating him to a pulp. Kakashi and the Fifth Hokage could and would only watch, nor did either of them even bother to interfere– they were both aware of her enormous strength the young lady possessed, anyways.

Besides- who, aside from Lee, was crazy enough to want to be a victim of that?

**

* * *

**

**A/N:**

I'm so sorry for the delay and the rather short chapter you guys. I've been lazy and in my final exam period, so I have been studying and relaxing. Good news is, I'll probably have some free time on my hands the coming weeks so *still need to do 2 exams, though* – I'll probably update as soon as possible, yay!

I really wanted to conclude some of the data of the previous chapter, so it might be a little 'double' written, if you catch my drift. But, yeah… also, I'm a bit sorry for getting Kakashi OOC – I just love him snapping back at Tsunade like that, because I think it would be like him, but he would only think about it – not actually say it.

It's a short chapter, and I already know to what I'm heading to – quite frankly, I had more in mind for this chapter, but since my requester *lol* wanted many chapters, I will give thee many chapters!

For those who want to know, I stopped around 2.50 from episode 55. I'll continue with that in the next chapter (and some other weird shizzles).

I hope you all enjoyed and stay tuned, Tenzou will appear in the next episode, hurr hurr :]

p.s. it's passed 5 in the morning *rubs eyes*, I'm tired and my grammar probably sucks at the moment (yay for spelling control – if I hadn't had that.. I didn't know what to do-, but yeah, I'll check it out later on. What I won't do for you guys!

I love resembling people to certain things, if you might've noticed… I don't know why..

Oh yeah peeps; Happy religion day (I don't know how to call it in English, though)!


	5. Bad memories

**Warning:** Do not read this while listening to the 'Sadness and Sorrow' song from Naruto. Just don't.

* * *

Tenzou found himself drooling against one of the swing cables as he woke up the next morning. As he shifted his weight and sat straight up, he whipped some saliva from his chin with the back of his hand. He looked around him, clearly oblivious as to where he was. He couldn't remember a thing. All he knew, was that he had been so emotionally exhausted and conflicted lately, that he could fall asleep anywhere – anywhere that didn't remind him of his mentor nor Team 7.

He sighed to himself as he leaned forward, putting his head into his hands and his elbows resting upon his legs. Oh yes, the two had been quite troublesome towards him lately. He often took the fall for his mentor. He wasn't quite sure why, though. Actually, it surprised him at some points, too.

Whenever Team 7 saw an opportunity of bashing their sensei, either it would be something towards him always ending up in the hospital, so he could have some free time for himself – at least, that's what they thought-, or it would be them complaining about his characteristics and habits, such as coming in late, reading Jiraiya's perverted books the whole time or it would be about more simple things, such as why he would even wear a mask if he didn't have any buck teeth, incredible thin or thick lips or several pimples? And pimples would eventually disappear..

Tenzou hardly had any answers for their complaints, seeing as the complaints were more or less more questioned than anything else. That didn't mean that he still didn't found it very annoying to hear thát every single day they had been on their first mission-, simply because hé didn't knew his mentor all that well either to give an useful respond.

Sure, he had been his superior for quite some time, just as he had been Team 7's Sensei , but it didn't give Tenzou much, did it? No, even though he knew him for quite some time, Kakashi hadn't changed a bit and still did some honor towards his characteristics and habits every day.  
Ever since he met him, Kakashi had been wearing a mask, he had been reading books on occasions_ – doing this during an ANBU mission was very difficult, seeing as ANBU missions weren't your average B- or even A- ranked mission-,_ but he had always been late. It just happen to be so, that with the years passing, these habits had only became worse, Tenzou had noticed.

Kakashi had left ANBU rather rapidly – too rapidly for Tenzou's taste. Kakashi had been a rising star; he had been known, acknowledged and feared by everyone. Perhaps, this had scared him, perhaps- this was the real reason why he had left.

Tenzou wasn't quite sure about it, but ever since Kakashi had finished his last ANBU mission with his team and as they stood there, his other team mates (including Tenzou) chattering in front of the Konohagakure gates, he had his eyes fixated at the page of his book. He didn't even flip a page, no – he did nothing, he simply kept staring at it.

As he finally had started to make his way back to his own apartment (Tenzou had assumed at the time), he had said nothing nor did he even say goodbye. This was more than typical for him, so his teammates had simply ignored the movement, seeing as they were simply too busy with each other anyway. However, Tenzou knew that something had been wrong and seemed to be the only one who truly cared.

Kakashi had never informed them about him leaving, they were told later by the 3rd Hokage himself– but, at that time, Tenzou already knew. He knew something had been wrong as Kakashi had been very tense and concerned about his teammates during the mission. This had been very unlikely for him, because usually, he knew what they were capable of and just let them be. Not that time, though.

As he had watched his superior make his way through the crowd with his arms in his pockets, Tenzou knew - he was certain and very much aware that this would be the last time he would ever see Kakashi and he knew that he would miss his Senpai and his weird habits. Actually, he had blamed him for leaving. Not long after that, Tenzou started to hate him for doing so.

They simply had been thé perfect ANBU team.

Now - with Kakashi's absence, and Tenzou had been telling himself that no one could ever replace the Copy Ninja – no matter how hard they tried, they weren't perfect anymore. It wasn't the same. Something was missing. _Someone _was missing.

Tenzou smiled, and scoffed slightly, as he shifted his weight once again and placed his head against one of the swing cables.

He had never imagined that he would see Kakashi ever again from that point on – not even bumping up against him during shopping or so _(quite frankly, it still baffled him how Kakashi ever managed to do his shopping without being spotted or seen)._ He would've laughed at you and walked away, simply being hurt by the fact that someone would actually give him hope, even though he knew it was rather hopeless and pointless to think about it in the first place.

_Then…_

Tsunade-sama had made him a Captain. More precisely, Team 7's Captain – she found him a suitable replacement, for none other than the Copy Ninja himself! Tenzou hadn't believed it at first – he had been baffled, stunned and frozen to the ground, if not. He had simply already given up on ever seeing his superior again, let stand alone that he would teach the ones who were similar to him – students of Kakashi.

But, when he saw him again, ever since he had left him alone, in the hospital, he couldn't help but feel the anger bubbling and heating up again inside of him. He had been furious – he wanted to shout at him for leaving, wanted to slice him into tiny bits and pieces, there were even moments when he knew he was able and more than capable to take the man's life. All simply because Kakashi had to experience what he had put him through. He needed to feel how he felt after he had left him.

He had noticed that Kakashi had been quite surprised to see him again, obviously, he must've thought the same as Tenzou back then, but he didn't care about it. It had only made him more angry than he already had been.

At that time, he wasn't sure if he would be capable of teaching and guiding Team 7, not if Kakashi was there standing beside him. After finally seeing him again, after many years filled with heartache, desperation, depression and anger, he wasn't happy to see him, much to his own dismay. He had hoped the feelings of anger and depression would leave him in time, that it would be replaced with pure and innocent hope. He had thought that it was just another phase to get through – alone. Yet, the phase had never seemed to be ending and still had him fully trapped.

In fact, it had tightened even more around his body, causing him to release all the air that had remained in his lungs, as if he was suffocating – it had happened the very same day when he had visited Kakashi in the hospital. He had been severely hurt, emotionally, and blamed Kakashi for it.

But he agreed anyways and took the job, simply because he couldn't let Team 7 alone in Kakashi's destroying hands. He felt he needed to help them, to soften the damage that Kakashi had caused before Naruto had left with Jiraiya, simply because no one ever helped him and he knew how desperately he had wanted it, had begged for it – but never got it.

He remembered what had happened yesterday, how he suddenly snapped at Kakashi. He had suddenly blamed him, out of nowhere – Kakashi had been staring at him as an animal caught in headlights. His aching heart had caused him to snap, to make sure to let him know what he had been feeling the whole time – even though he never really exposed it. He simply jumped around the bush, not mentioning the real deal and simply called him a pervert, while he truly wanted to make him feel hurt and alone, just like he had felt all those years and still did.

_But now…_

It was different. They weren't back together in one team for his own sake, no – it had been for Team 7's sake. This changed everything. There was no room for his selfishness. He had to bite through the sour apple and help them, for them. Not because he wanted to put Kakashi down and teach him a lesson, one he obviously deserved, no – he genuinely wanted to help them.

He sighed loudly once again, wondering what to do about the situation - if he could do anything against it, that is.

He closed his eyes peacefully and a smile crept upon his face, tugging at the corners of his lips. He rocked himself back and forth on the swing with a clear mind, feeling how the emotional tiredness left him as his feet dug deeper and deeper into the sand with each swing. A small and cooling breeze of wind passed him.

* * *

**A/N: Yesterday, I suddenly noticed that I had forgotten about someone in the previous chapter.. yes.. Tenzou.. poor, poor Tenzou. That's why this chapter is devoted to him.****.********.**

I hope you were touched by this chapter, you know - it was my intention

Stay tuned for the next chapter. Press that review button if you want to let me know what you think of it (whether you liked it or disliked it), it would mean a lot to me

Happy Saturday, everyone!


	6. Fan girls

**Chapter 6 – Fan girls.**

After the 10 minutes of the famous said Uzumaki ass-whooping, which was delightfully filled with brute violence towards the boy and some blood loss on his side, Kakashi and Tsunade had simply sighed and looked up towards the ceiling, wondering what to do with the two youngsters.

When Sakura had finally stopped beating Naruto into a pulp, she made her way back to her sensei and mentor. Her hands were nicely tucked behind her on her back, and she was grinning like an insane mad man.

Sweat immediately started to form onto Kakashi's right nape, his single-visible pupil slightly widened in fear as he felt rather crept out, hoping she would never use that strength on him – well, ever again, that is. She díd once tried to beat him with her small, yet very powerful, fists when she and Naruto were trying to get the bells, but he had managed to avoid the deathly punches at that time. Would he be capable of doing so for another round?

_' Just like Tsunade..', _he mentally stated as he watched the two in horror – simply because the Fifth had turned around, her hands pressed tightly onto her hips, and had been joining her apprentice with an evil chuckle, as if to complement her on the good job. Her eyes were narrow in sweet devilish delight, portraying a rather sinful lady with little red horns on top of her head, oh yes – she was enjoying this little, yet very beautiful, victory and she knew it had scared Naruto, but Kakashi as well. That just made it a lot better.

When Kakashi finally looked to his left, he noticed that Naruto's leg had been raised high up in the air and had been twitching slowly, yet uncontrollable. His face had swollen up a bit due to the brute and strong violence. A small stream of blood ran down his face, originating from inside his mouth. Just then, out of sympathy for Naruto and merely because he valued his own life, he regretted the fact that he ever turned his head.

Then, all of the sudden, Kakashi spotted something small and white-colored upon the pillow beside the unconscious young man.

_'Is that a tooth?'_, the older man wondered to himself as he crooked his head and squinted his eye a little, hoping he would get a closer view like that. Of course – he wouldn't, but he didn't really care.

''Well, as I said before, you're fine and can leave this hospital''.

Kakashi looked up to meet the person who had said it- it had been a very impatient Tsunade. Apparently, Tsunade had turned round again. In fact, she was facing Kakashi now, piercing his soul with one of her strict, scary and dominant stares as she tapped her fingers against her sides out of pure annoyance and impatience.

"Ehr, yes'', Kakashi said, stumbling ever so slightly over his own words as he glanced another look at Naruto before turning his full attention back to the Fifth Hokage. He simply nodded and smiled in return. His eyes were narrow, giving him that utmost innocent and polite look of his, even if he didn't meant it _at all.  
_  
**-x-x-x-x-x-**

After being released from the hospital's tight grip, Kakashi had left Naruto alone. Quite frankly, when he left, Naruto was still lying onto the bed, his stance and appearance had hardly changed in those 50, or so, minutes. Kakashi figured it would only give him some time to relax, so he didn't even bother to wake the bright blue-eyed boy up.

He slowly made his way through the most busiest streets of Konoha, his nose deeply buried into that romantic novel of his as he passed several vegetables stands. This was one of his beloved morning routines, one of many that he would often do to simply catch up on his reading, have some time on his own and even buy some groceries if needed.

It was also one of many routines and things that he valued and loved, simply for it's simplicity. He was among many people, practically invisible for his peers and colleagues, and no one else would ask him a darn, pointless and useless thing, unless he went to a stand to buy something. Ánd that's why he loved it, he loved the fact to get away from work for some time, to relax and enjoy, to entertain himself with the most ridiculous and small things that made life so wonderful to begin with.

However, it was different this time. At least, it felt different. He couldn't help but feel somewhat exposed or, it might sounded silly at the time, the center of attention.

After a while, when he finally decided to look up, he noticed that several people were gazing towards him. Some were laughing and pointing, others looked horrified as they covered their mouth with their hands – these were mostly elders, and then, you'd still have a small leftover or remaining part of the population; the perverted villagers that uncontrollably licked their lips and undressed him with their lustful, ogling and hungry eyes.

Sweat started to from onto his napes as he looked around him. Everyone was staring at him, éveryone – even children, no matter how old they were. For some unknown reason, our famous Copy Ninja had turned into the prey itself, instead of being the predator or hunter he normally was and liked to be. He couldn't help, but wonder why he was the cause of the sudden, and enormous, attention that was given to him.

He casually tried to make his way through the remains of the street as people continued to gossip behind, or even in front of him, his back. He tried to ignore it, pretending he didn't hear anything, mostly because they were whispering out of his reach. He still didn't know what he deserved to get the full attention of the villagers. Peeking the interest of the villagers was already a very difficult job on it's own, so it did made him even more curious.

Aside from his growing curiosity and the fact that he started to quicken his pace as people, the latter and perverted group of all, started to follow him, Kakashi actually was in the need of getting some groceries, but figured that it could wait or else he would either send Naruto to do it for him. He would practically do anything to get his training going. Kakashi smirked devilishly.

However, being the center of the attention never had been or was his cup of tea. To be honest, he dreaded it with every protesting bone in his body as the eyes continued to pierce through his body, whether they were ashamed or simply undressing him, it wasn't something he could get used to, even with his so-called fame. It made him very uncomfortable and nervous. Simply for this exact reason, he would never bother to participate in social events, no matter how petty they might be or have been.

When he finally reached a somewhat less crowded street near the children's playground, he sighed heavily – it was a sigh of relief. It had surprised him ever so slightly. He wasn't even aware of the fact that he had been holding it the whole time as he had crossed the streets. The sweat slowly started to slid down his face as well.

He sighed again as he continued his path and headed to the the children's playground entrance gate in order to get home.

Then, all of the sudden, something, well more someone, caught his eye. He turned his head round and noticed that his beloved and precious Kōhai had been sitting onto the swing. He grinned to himself as he looked a little closer and noticed that the slightly younger man had closed his eyes, and that a small trail of saliva had been dripping onto the firm rope.

He was glad to finally have some welcoming distraction, simply because his mind had started to come up with the most craziest ideas as to why the villagers had acted so unusual. He then placed his novel back into his pouch and started to make his way to Tenzo's direction on that slow pace of his.

_

* * *

  
A/N:_

I'm so sorry for the delay – I've been busy with all kinds of things, but I'll promise I'm picking this up again ,so no worries for those who were loyal readers. Thank you for reading and I'm sorry!

Hoped you liked this somewhat small chapter!


	7. Brainteaser

He was glad to finally have some welcoming distraction, simply because his mind had started to come up with the most craziest ideas as to why the villagers had acted so unusual. He then placed his novel back into his pouch and started to make his way to Tenzo's direction on that slow pace of his.

Chapter 7 - Brainteaser  
  
The grin that was plastered upon his face increased and widened as he approached the younger man that rested before him.

It took Kakashi only a few minutes to stand still before his apprentice with his hands firmly, yet neatly, tucked into the pockets of his navy-blue pants, and figuring out what to do with his former student's situation.

He pouted his lips in thought, standing before his friend as he shielded him from the penetrative beam coming and originating from the sun, his dark shadow swallowing and absorbing Tenzo's silent form. Then, a small light bulb lit inside his head as he raised his thumb well-knowingly high into the air. He had a plan, and not just a plan, a _brilliant_ one.

He coughed once.

Kakashi immediately looked at the man resting before him to see if he responded properly. However, the younger man didn't even seem to notice the sudden sound and kept his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling as slow as before.

Kakashi pouted his lips again, feeling slight defeat taking over him, but of course – he was known for not being a quitter. So, _of course..  
_  
He coughed again, only this time, it was slightly louder.

He looked over at the man before him again to see if he would respond to the sudden, and very loud, sound now. However, there came no response from the younger man at all.

Kakashi sighed to himself, disappointed, and scratched the back of his skull with one of his hands as he tried to figure out what to do next. All of the sudden, a devilish grin appeared onto his face.

_Perfect._

Kakashi removed his hand and started to poke Tenzo against one of his napes with his index finger. He snickered devilish to himself as he continued to poke the younger man onto the side of his face.

However, the younger man didn't seem to even notice the intrusion, or the intruding index finger for that matter, onto his precious skin as he simply kept his eyes closed, and his slow breathing remained the same. He didn't even flicker or moved an inch.

It was very disappointing, _very._

Kakashi placed his thumb under his chin and rested his index finger onto it. His index finger slowly caressed his chin as if to portray an intellect and posing thought.

''Hmmm'', he mumbled to himself as his gaze pierced through Tenzo's resting form, his glare skimming through the man as if he was an open book to him, and on some occasions, he was. Just not _now._

The devilish grin reappeared onto his face once again and Kakashi squatted down to lean in. Quite frankly, he leaned so far in, that Tenzo's nose and his own were only a mere inches away from touching each other, even though with Tenzo's position being quite.. awkward.

As he was about to poke the shit out of Tenzo with both of his index fingers pressing, more or less penetrating, repeatedly into Tenzo's sides, a small group of fan girls had found Kakashi's hideout and screamed on the top of their lungs, and thus, interrupted him.

''Oh, rape that pretty little asshole of his!''.

The sudden screaming had caught Kakashi off guard and alarmed him. In fact, he had been so shocked, that it had made him jump up in response. Immediately after his feet hit the soil again, he tripped, slipped and fell forwards - against Tenzo.

Their bodies collided hard against each other. Tenzo immediately arose from his deep beauty sleep, waking up abruptly as he was being pushed out of the swing and fell with his butt onto the soft sand. The sand actually prevented him from falling hard onto his tushie. Tenzo immediately faced Kakashi. His eyebrows were raised in annoyance, demanding further explanation.

Kakashi, who was now lying on top of the swing with his abdomen, only gave Tenzo a sheepish look in return as the sweat started to create a solid form onto his napes. _How was he going to get himself out of this situation? _

He had landed very, _very_, uncomfortable and the screaming mass behind them wasn't helping the situation _much_, if not, not at all. Their words of encouragement had actually came within Tenzo's reach.

The single raised eyebrow went even more up as he looked at the fan group for a few seconds before he focused his attention back onto the man before him, who was awkwardly harassing the swing as he tried to get off of it.

'' Ehr, Senpai,'' his eyebrow was still highly raised as he watched the older man, he swallowed hard, and he slightly hesitated as if he was afraid to find out, '' Wh-what's going on? What were you doing, or trying to do?''

Kakashi sighed heavily and closed his eyes in fatigue. Clearly, he was done with wrestling with the dangerous play item and had given up, '' You wouldn't wake up, I was running out of ideas''.

Tenzo scoffed, much to Kakashi's dismay. Kakashi immediately looked up and started to struggle again, '' Fine. You don't _have_ to believe me. Either you believe _me,_ or those scary, and obsessive, fan girls''.

Kakashi pointed towards the dangerous, yet very perverted, group that stood behind the entrance of the children's playground.

Tenzo crook his head ever so slightly, giving him a very adorable and cute appearance. All of the sudden, a polite grimace appeared onto his face as he got up. He whipped the dust off of his pants and offered Kakashi his hand with that ever so polite smile of his, _'You'll be mine soon, bastard'._

Kakashi took the offered hand and together, they released Kakashi from the deathful and tight grip that came from the swing's ropes. Tenzo formed a hand seal and the two of them suddenly disappeared in front of the fan girl's ogling and hungry eyes.

---------------

'' Arigatou'', Kakashi said as he whipped the dust from his clothes.

Tenzou, being the good gentleman that he was, had taken Kakashi back to his own apartment.

A small, warm, and _'I-don't-give-a-fuck-_' - at least in Tenzo language, grin appeared onto the younger man's face in response, '' No problem, Senpai''.

As Tenzo turned round to get out of there as quickly as possible, Kakashi suddenly stopped him by placing a gloved hand onto his former student's shoulder.

To be honest, it _had_ surprised Tenzo. He immediately looked over his shoulder, his face questioning and more puzzled than ever, '' Senpai?''

''I need to talk to you about something'', his voice was strict and dominant – he meant business, all right. He wasn't going to let Tenzo walk away before he had the opportunity to talk to his previous apprentice. He desperately needed to say it. It was practically already escaping his lips.

-------------

I likeyyz short chapters. I wasn't planning to make it this long, but ah well, who cares? I'm having too much fun. I hope the next chapter will be a lot more funny. Oh, and if you might wonder, yes, Tenzo's still very pissed at Kakashi, that's why he tends to call him 'Senpai' – to leave the formal things between them, so poor him doesn't get hurt :. Poor Mr. Stick.

Oh, by the way, don't you just loveeee fangirls? Sure, I wouldn't go off screaming things like thát, and I certainly wouldn't lead the group [*sarcasm*], but still.. they are so adorable.

What's happening next? Stay tuned, you!

p.s. Thanks for reading!


	8. It must grow tough roots among the rocks

''I need to talk to you about something'', his voice was strict and dominant – he meant business, all right. He wasn't going to let Tenzo walk away before he had the opportunity to talk to his previous apprentice. He desperately needed to say it. It was practically already escaping his lips.

* * *

Chapter 8 – It must grow tough roots amongst the rocks.

After getting in and sitting down while Kakashi got his former apprentice some tea, on which he insisted, an awkward silence filled the air. As Kakashi placed the two cups onto the table, Tenzo only gave the man irritated looks.

'' Is there something wrong?'', Kakashi suddenly asked, as calm as ever as he filled the two cups with steamingly-hot tea. He looked at his student from the corner of his eye on his lazy, yet stern, way as he continued his previously-intended motion.

''I thought you wanted to speak with me about something – not make small talk?'', Tenzo said, making sure that he wasn't there for any of those time-absorbing chitchats, remembering how good it was in the old days – and by old days, he means a time of which he desperately wanted to forgot, not sigh and create some nostalgic scenes . Forever.

He knotted his eyebrows even further, his icy glare piercing through Kakashi's single-visible eye. Kakashi only smirked back and sat down across his student, '' All right''. The Copy Nin' then returned the cold stare with his own one, his stare piercing through Tenzo's damaged soul, his mind wandering off.

It remained silent for a few minutes, until Tenzo started to tap his fingers repeatedly and impatiently on the table. Kakashi's lazy eye had abruptly focused onto the movement for a brief few seconds, blankly, yet strictly, until Tenzo's voice broke through the barrier and very awkward silence. '' So?'', he asked, his voice a bit crackled as he tried to hide the annoyance, which was, despite the effort, still clearly portrayed in his tone. His thoughts were immediately put on hold and Kakashi looked up, meeting one's intense, yet hateful, gaze. It was a very cranky one at that, and it wasn't going to get any better, either.

''Oh, right'', Kakashi said, remembering as to what his Kohai was referring to. Tenzo, on the other hand, didn't seem so happy with it and was about to choke the man to death with his Mokuton No Jutsu.

'' I was wondering if you could assist me tomorrow, ''he paused and looked rather uninterested at his former student, whom only nodded in impatience, nudging and urging him to continue, '' I needed your help, because I'll be training with Naruto again, and seeing as only you can suppress the nine-tailed fox and its chakra from leaking out, and prevent him from completely destroying Konohagakure..''. Kakashi stopped again, travelling off.

He had already said too much, he noted. Tenzo probably would've been even more angry with him right now. It seemed and sounded as if Tenzo had been his last resort to go to, simply because he had no other option or trick in his sleeve that he could use. He focused his stare at his now-cold tea, he then looked up , his visible eye almost completely closed, portraying a polite smile, '' You're essential for the boy's training progress, _Yamato_''.

Tenzo's eyebrow went slightly up, finding it somewhat amusing, yet slightly surprising that, out of all, Kakashi had said that. For all he knew, Kakashi wasn't one of those touchy-feeling persons to compliment someone on doing a good job or admit it when they were crucially needed. Figuring that it was hard for him to admit, and that he was indeed secretly appreciating the fact that he was needed by his_ Senpai_, a small blush appeared onto his cheeks and Tenzo nodded agreeingly. Kakashi's appearance immediately changed into a somewhat more relieved and relaxed one, the polite smile returning and now staying upon his face.

However, the whole event had thrown Tenzo off of his guard and his anger had immediately been flushed away. By the time Tenzo had come back to reality after being so heavily absorbed in his thoughts, he noticed that Kakashi had gotten up and had been making them another pot of tea.

Tenzo looked at the counter and then at Kakashi's back, leaving no inch undiscovered and he licked his lips while goggling the man. All of the sudden, Tenzo had gotten up as soon as possible, which caused Kakashi to turn round, and pinned Kakashi against said counter with his own body, he then pressed his soft lips harshly and hungrily against the masked ones.

* * *

A/N:

This chapter might be somewhat confusing, I understand that. The fact is, Tenzo's still angry and will not forgive his Senpai for what he has done – seems logic, right? But on the other hand, the emotions within him are struggling and conflicted, because he feels somewhat happy in the man's presence. Does that make any sense? I think I'm already giving way too many hints at you guys!

Also, Kakashi calls Tenzo 'Yamato', just to remind him that he needs to act professionally between them, not all that bothered and upset/angry.


	9. Let them have a little fun

Chapter 9  
Let them have a little fun

* * *

Kakashi was pinned down against the counter with Tenzo's body. For a brief moment, a shocked expression lingered upon his face, eye widened. Normally, he wouldn't be such an easy prey, but Tenzo completely caught him off guard.

"Maaahhhmm", he managed to stumble upon his words as Tenzo pressed his lips harshly and hungrily against Kakashi's masked ones. One of Tenzo's hands immediately went up and pressed against the back of Kakashi's skull to deepen the kiss as far as they could, while Kakashi's hands abruptly went down and started to hold onto and pinch Tenzo's ass.

"Hmm, Senpai…", Tenzo suddenly said as he backed out, catching his breath. Kakashi simply gave him a smirk, causing his former student to blush in response.

"And here I was thinking you were pissed off at me. Apparently you were, " Kakashi said as he approached Tenzo and pressed him down, pinning him against the coffee table, breaking the porcelain tea cups and quite enjoying his newly-found dominant role, " but I was no where near the right reason."

The blush upon Tenzo's face increased as Kakashi hovered above him, approaching him with his lips. "Not that angry with me anymore, are we?," Kakashi whispered softly before he pressed his body completely against Tenzo's, so that the younger man could clearly feel the man's growing erection, "And before you ask - I'm very happy to see you".

"Nh, Senpai, what if - what if someone sees us?", Tenzo stammered, eyes fixated on, what seemed, the huge window right behind them.

"Let them have a little fun, besides…," he said as his left hand traveled downwards, towards Tenzo's groin, as the other had a firm grip on both of Tenzo's hands, "they are already aware of me being gay."

Tenzo reached his boiling point, face utterly flustered, "I'm sorry, Senpai….". Kakashi looked up, a questionable look upon his face as all of the sudden, Tenzo kicked him in the groin and freed himself.

"Maaah!", Kakashi yelped out as Tenzo crawled back onto his feet, standing now behind the older man as Kakashi immediately reached out for his private parts in response.

"Ehr, I'll - I'll see you again when you start Naruto-kun's training….", Tenzo succeeded to say quite nervously as his former mentor lied upon the coffee table without making any kind of movement. He simply lied there.

"Hm..", Kakashi managed to respond with a bit of a squeak.

Feeling as awful as he did for what he'd done, Tenzo decided to leave as fast as he could, his mind being completely absorbed by what would happen in the next few days, when he would accompany Kakashi in training Naruto-kun.

Tenzo gulped hard.

_This would prove to be interesting…._

* * *

A/N:

I'm so, so, so, so sorry for being so, so, so tardy on this story. It's been a year, I've completely lost my fanism in Naruto, I've regained it and I'm picking the story up again, I promise!

Thanks to all who have been reading every chapter. Next up: the mildly awkward training of Naruto-kun, hurrah!

HistoryHound - yes, I'm also on dA :)


	10. Interruption

Chapter 10

Interruption

* * *

He hears a faint noise, somewhere in the far distance. Multiple times. The sound seems to increase and seems to prolong as well. He tries to ignore it by vaguely remembering that he put his pillow right on top of his head, covering his ears, hiding from the banging on his door.

All of the sudden, a loud thud is heard and a dangerous scream fills every room of the apartment. Immediately, the door to the bedroom is kicked in and another scream escapes on the top of someone's lungs.

…_Sakura..!_

As abruptly and as quickly as he can after realizing to whom the scream belongs to, Tenzou rises up from his beauty sleep and immediately gets onto his feet, revealing that he has been sleeping in nothing but his boxers and, as he's backing out, he comes face to face with an enraged pink-haired kunoichi.

"Ah, Sakura, it's so lovely to -", he is cut off immediately.

"Captain Yamato", she furiously yells, "Do you know how long I've been knocking rather patiently on your front door?"

Tenzou laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head as he holds his pillow in front of him, as if it should provide some sort of protection, some sort of armour against the deadly strength of the furious woman, "I have a feeling you're about to tell me….?"

"Too damn long!", she responds, ignoring his witty remark as she approaches him, preparing herself to stomp her former teacher by flexing her digits rather brutally. Tenzou backs out the room as far as he can until he hits one of his walls with his back.

_Oh, great.. I'm trapped._

"Please, don't do something you might regret later…", Tenzou mutters as he places the pillow against his head, shielding himself and his eyesight from the dangerously approaching woman.

A loud sigh is heard and, as much as he expects a jab from every direction, none comes. He slowly removes the pillow from his face, but still holds it in front of his chest and clutches it tightly, as if he could still and quickly use the pillow as a safety measure, may she want to take a shot at him.

He rises a suspicious eyebrow at her and she smirks back at him.

"I'm not the one you should be afraid of," she says as she places one of her hands on her left hip, "I wonder how Kaka'-sensei will respond when he hears you've overslept.."

"Overslept?", Tenzo asks and receives a firm nod and devious grin from Sakura. He immediately turns his head towards his alarm clock.

It's almost 1 PM.

_Damn! _

He promptly runs towards his closet and grabs the first pieces of clothing, without even looking at it.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?", Tenzou mumbles as he attempts to put his pants on with tremendous amount of difficulty.

"Slow down. You're already late, " Sakura remarks and then gives him a somewhat deadly gaze, "and I'm not your housemaid. You should be lucky enough that Kakashi even cared to wake you up in the first place, much to my own dismay."

He gives her a look and slows his actions down as he readies himself in silence.

_Since when has she become so cheeky towards her superiors? No respect… _

"So," Sakura says, hoping to start a conversation and break through the silence as she watches how he finishes putting on his undervest, "You don't seem the type who normally oversleeps…?"

"I'm not," he pauses as he can't help but put his vest quickly on, "I'm not, usually, that is."

"Ah," she says with suspicion lingering in her tone, "So, how come.."

He looks at her quite irritated and she stops her question right away, her voice trailing off.

"I couldn't fall asleep; busy neighbors, you know", he lies and tries to end the conversation with a quick smirk. Sakura looks rather suspiciously at him, but shrugs it off and simply nods.

_How could he tell her that he hasn't been able to fall asleep because of Kakashi, because of what happened earlier? _

His mind had been completely preoccupied with scenarios such as what might happen, what could happen and what definitely would happen, even in the little wee hours passed midnight. Eventually, he finally fell asleep, but not without its price. He even haunted him in his dreams, and mind you, none of it was PG-13 rated.

"Well, I'll see you later, Captain Yamato," she pauses to smile ever so sweetly at him, "I need to take care of some errands for Tsunade-sama."

"Thank you, Sakura-chan, "Tenzou looks at her, "for waking me up". _And not stomping me to death.._

Sakura genuinely smiles at him now as she holds onto the frame of the door, "Just make sure it remains a first and last time."

He smiles back as she leaves. Straight away, he resumes his previous, fast pace and quickly grabs his pouches. He manages to, and rather skillfully, climb out of his bedroom window and run across rooftops to make his way towards the training ground as fast as he can, with his heart practically throbbing in his throat.

**-oh-noes-it's-a-fast-forward-**

"It usually takes a huge amount of time to learn the method. But, I've thought of a way to get it done extremely fast", Kakashi lazily says as he puts his hands in his pockets.

"Sweet!", Naruto exclaims overly excited.

"What we'll do is-", the older man abruptly stops and directs his gaze towards his left, where Tenzou appears.

"Captain Yamato!," Tenzou attempts to hide how much exactly his heart has been, and still is, pounding and faintly manages to smile towards Naruto, "Hey, why are you here?"

"Kakashi-san asked me to help with your training," Tenzou pauses and directs his gaze towards Kakashi, a small blush appears and his heart starts to pound faster, seeming as if it sometimes skips a beat, and sweat begins to form on his napes as he gives a small bow to his superior, "Sorry to interrupt, Kakashi-senpai".

Kakashi smiles at his former student, seeming to be in a seemingly good mood. This soothes the emotion rollercoaster that Tenzou is currently experiencing,"No problem."

"So -". Kakashi continues, completely ignoring the obvious fact that the slightly younger man is quite, quite late. Something Tenzou hadn't expected, seeing as there's a matter of importance to Naruto's training.

"Hey, hey, what kind of nature manipulation is your wood element?", Naruto excitedly says, catching Tenzou off guard.

Tenzou, feeling quite overwhelmed with this sudden question as he has yet to recover from his heart dangerously beating, looks to his right, thrown aback and nervously starts to pluck onto his forehead protector, not sure knowing where to start as he'd just arrived there, "Well, that's..", he mutters as he sees Kakashi approaching from his right and cover his own face with his hand, making Tenzou blush a light shade of pink again.

"He's focused on you now, just show him", Kakashi whispers into his ear, leaning in a little bit extra. It sends a shiver down his spine and Tenzou continues to tremble as the semi hot breath tickles his ear.

_Kaka'-senpai wouldn't do this on purpose, tease him like this, would he? _

He quickly puts his thoughts aside as the teenager looks at him eagerly, awaiting his actions. "Well then!", he smiles and starts his demonstration. Within a matter of seconds, he manages to show Naruto both his earth and water element by creating an abyss and a waterfall.

"I use two elements, earth and water", Tenzou says as he's standing on the ground at the very top of the waterfall, feeling somewhat relieved that the older man isn't as close to him as he had just been.

"So you have two as well, Captain Yamato?", Naruto asks, holding a hand above his eyes as if it should increase his eyesight. He's barely being able to spot Tenzou from afar.

"By the time they're a jounin-class ninja, most people can use at least two types, " Kakashi pauses, "I can use more than just lightning, too."

Tenzou silently pouts for a brief moment as Kakashi answers for him.

"Then with the wood element, Captain Yamato has three?"

"No, not exactly", Kakashi says as he lifts his index finger up and places his hand on his hip.

"I can only use earth and water. Wood isn't one of the basic elements, " Tenzou states.

"Then, how did he…?"

"He uses them simultaneously," Kakashi responds as he places one of his hands back into his pockets, "By using earth and water natures at the same time, he creates a new element, wood."

"Earth in my right hand, water in my left", Tenzou says as he slowly shows Naruto how he performs his wood technique, creating all sorts of trees across the abyss, where, at the valley of it, Kakashi and Naruto are standing.

"Amazing…", Naruto barely manages to say, overwhelmed by Tenzou's abilities. Tenzou smirks smugly in response.

"Using two elemental natures at the same time to create a new nature is called a Bloodline Limit. I know you've heard that phrase before," Naruto nods in understanding, "That boy Haku you fought had the same ability. He had a bloodline limit that I'd call "Ice Element", but he was actually combining water and wind to create ice."

"Bloodline Limits are genetic. Only his clan could perform that technique," Kakashi continues, "That's why I couldn't copy it with my Sharingan."

There's a brief silence as Naruto attempts to comprehend the information he's been given.

"Now, where was I?", Kakashi asks.

"How to make the training take no time?"

"I said take less time…", he sighs.

"Yeah, yeah, that!," Naruto exclaims heavily excited, "How do we do it?"

"We use…", Kakashi seems to deliberately pause for dramatic effect, "your Mass Shadow Clones. That's it, your Mass Shadow Clones."

As Kakashi explains his plan with their own pair of Shadow Clones, Tenzou makes his way down and silently stands next his Senpai. His heart starts to beat slightly faster as he deliberately looks away from his superior.

**-oh-noes-a-pretty-flash-forward-again-**

"But now you understand, right? Anything a shadow clone learns or experiences goes back to the original body. This technique was originally used for recon missions in dangerous areas, infiltrating enemy bases, and information gathering."

"With a thousand clones, something that would normally take you twenty years would take a week now. You're to have as many clones as possible working with you at all times during your nature manipulation training. "

"Okay!", Naruto beams happily.

"But since you're going to be using up a lot of chakra, there's a chance that you might awaken the Kyuubi. That's why I'm here. I'm here to control the Kyuubi's chakra", Tenzou smiles faintly.

"I'm counting on you!"

Tenzou nods.

"The first step is to strengthen your control over your chakra element. Hold a leaf between your two hands and cut it with just your chakra," Kakashi says as he holds up a leaf, "All the way through."

"Okay! Let's do this!", Naruto pauses and starts the first step of his training, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

As Naruto is immediately distracted with his new task, Kakashi directly focusses his attention on Tenzou. Even though he's looking at him with only one bare eye, he looks strict and pissed as hell. "Walk with me, will you?"

Tenzou swallows hard as his throat is suddenly becoming awfully dry. However, he complies and follows the older man to a nearby tree.

"I-is there something wrong, Kaka'- senpai?", Tenzou hesitantly asks when Kakashi stops dead in his tracks.

Kakashi turns around and puts his left hand onto his hip. He stares right at Tenzou. Tenzou can't help but feel extremely vulnerable and weak as Kakashi's stare pierces right into him, as if he can reach his very soul with just one single look.

* * *

I'm not so very happy with this chapter, but I had to follow the actual storyline a bit. I'll promise it'll be better, especially with unhappy Kakashi and all.

Let me know what you think thus far and I'll see you guys in the next one. Thank you for reading, hope you liked it and reviewing! It makes my day ;D.

p.s. writing in a new style (present time) as before. Hopefully it's much better than before!


	11. Remind me to get you a copy

Chapter 11

Remind me to get you a copy

* * *

"I-Is there something wrong, Kaka'- senpai?", Tenzou hesitantly asks when Kakashi stops dead in his tracks.

Kakashi turns around and puts his left hand onto his hip. He stares right at Tenzou. Tenzou can't help but feel extremely vulnerable and weak as Kakashi's stare pierces right into him, as if he can reach his very soul with just one single look.

"You're late", Kakashi states. His tone of voice matches his body language and stare. It's strict and blunt, it's intimidating his comrade and feels so unusual , it's unlike.. Kakashi. Even though he could be strict if and when needed in the past, he was never insensitive of the other person's feelings when speaking to them. It seemed out of character. Tenzou attempts to swallow once more, but feels that it's quite difficult to do so. It feels as if a lump has been starting to form there, out of sheer nervousness. He starts fidgeting with the zipper on his vest, looking rather fixated at the little piece of metal.

There was no way he could get himself out of trouble. He had no other option than to accept his coming punishment. Heck, he was already lucky enough that Sakura hadn't beat him into a pulp, but perhaps she did it on purpose, so that Kakashi could have his way with him.

"Yes, Senpai..", he manages to mumble quite softly, accepting his crime if he had to.

"Excuse me?", Kakashi asks gruff, coming across as harsh and inconsiderate.

"Y-yes, Senpai!", Tenzou blurts out, cheeks flustering and he immediately releases the fastener from his tight grip as he looks right into his friends eye, his pulse rising quite dangerously in result. He can practically hear his heartbeat ringing in his ears.

Kakashi gives him a once-over, quickly examining him as he remains his stern posture. This doesn't go unnoticed by Tenzou, who instantaneously looks away. He place the tips of his index fingers against each other, letting them softly and constantly touch each other. "Is there something wrong?", Tenzou now asks in a soft tone, almost a whisper.

"Don't make a habit of it."

Tenzou immediately looks up, slightly confused, "Senpai?"

"Don't make a habit of being late," he places his hand in his pouch and Tenzou's eyes, now a bit widened, follow his movement as he does so, humoring Kakashi ever so slightly, "It doesn't suit you very well."

"Hai", Tenzou nods and pauses for a brief moment as he hangs his head down in shame, "Gomen*."

Even though it's not quite visible through his thick mask and, for the untrained eye, it would pass by as unseen by many, but Tenzou notices the faintly-visible smile that appears upon Kakashi face. "Don't worry about it, " he retrieves a book from his pouch and his former peer immediately raises an eyebrow as he reads the title of the infamous written booklet by none other than Jiraiya-sama, "Besides, how often have you put up with me being late?"

"You're always late, Senpai", Tenzou says, nearly mockingly and secretly hopes his comrade feels somewhat offended, as he feels how his heart starts to slow down at the very exact moment his superior loosens his discomposure. Tenzou's eyes are fixated on the Icha Icha novel for a few seconds before he faces Kakashi again, who looks even more amused now, eye fairly twinkling.

"Exactly", Kakashi beams brightly, smiling widely as he opens his novel and sits under a nearby tree and Tenzous simply follows him with knotted eyebrows, "But seeing as this kind of training would go down the drain right away if you were not to show up, it's crucial that you arrive on time."

Tenzou places one of his hands against the tree as he stands behind his former teacher, relativity close to not let his fellow peer realize that he still is much conflicted by this very man. He lets the rest of his body hang and rest against said tree as he hopes to catch a glimpse of the content of the little aqua-colored book, his curiosity awakened. He has never seen his Senpai without the book. He seems to carry it with him, always.

But why?

Was Jiraiya-sama truly a great writer? He didn't seem all that great. A bit of a pervert, actually.

"The boy's progress is even faster than I imagined", Kakashi suddenly says when a few silent minutes have passed, hoping to attempt to break said silence as he felt rather uncomfortable. There was and is something uncomfortable between the two of them, that is. Anyone with a good sense of mind and pair of eyes could feel and see it, unlike Naruto.

Naruto has already managed to make a small cut into a leaf. Tenzou, however, doesn't even seem to comprehend what Kakashi is saying, let stand alone pay attention to Naruto, as he is too busy with his attempt at peeping. Kakashi notices the continuation of the silence and slowly looks upwards, towards Tenzou and immediately notices the man's actions. A devious smirk appears upon his face, though it remains practically invisible. Not that Tenzou would even notice it, with him being so focused on finding out what the content of the book is. Kakashi changes his posture so that they're both looking straight in each other's eyes. Consequently, Tenzou blinks a couple of times.

"See something you like?", Kakashi smirks as the younger man starts to blush.

"I didn't mean to.. I.. ", Tenzou stammers as Kakashi nods along. He decides to not further embarrass himself as he has done so many times before in these past few weeks and closes his mouth wisely.

"I'm sure you don't", Kakashi says quite teasingly, obviously smirking from ear to ear, "But if you're so curious about Icha Icha Paradise, remind me to get you a copy."

* * *

Another chapter, boom! Hope this makes up for the previous chapter. I plan to have, at least, a chapter up per month. I'm going for one per week, but I can't promise anything, with exams and such coming up. Almost vacation, almost! *crosses fingers*

Yes, I thought it'd be wicked to have Tenzou not known what Icha Icha Paradise is all about. He kinda seems as the naïve, innocent person, at least, in my mind. Besides, it gives great opportunity in later chapters ;).

And yes, we secretly all know that Kakashi isn't just mad because Tenzou is late, don't we? ;)

Anyways. Let me know what you think of this chapter. Liked it? Hated it? Things you think are going to happen? Must happen? Hit that review button!

* Hai means yes

Gomen means sorry


	12. Haunted by the past

_HistoryHound (chapter 10): Ha ha, don't worry. It's not that I update that often.. *coughs* notthatmuchaatall. I love that you love it, yeah! I know, right? I just had to link it up together, because it provides a good storyline. I tried changing the whisper scene, but I couldn't. Maybe later. Ha ha, thank you so very much! I love Sakura and her brute force! Thank you so much. Your reviews make me happy!_

_HistoryHound (chapter 11): Being at a loss for words, is that good or bad? Ha ha. Yea, Kakashi can be a huge ass at some moments, but there's more to him than he lets people see or behold. I figured he'd be, cheers! Hm, that's not such a bad idea, yes and yes, he looks so damn hot there! Thanks for the pointers! Can't wait!_

**Warning:** this chapter might confuse the hell out of you. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy reading.

* * *

Chapter 12

Haunted by the past

* * *

"Yamato, can I speak with you alone?"

Tenzou follows Kakashi to the hallway and watches how the members of team 7 passes them. He places his hands on his sides, feeling slightly annoyed. His time spend together with Kakashi and his team would prolong, seeing as they both had their own missions in the meantime. One part of him didn't particularly mind that, loved it in fact, but the other part loathed spending more time with them, even if it was for only another second. To say the least, he was still very much conflicted, torn between two sides.

It seems easier for him to give in into the darker side, the negative part. It seems easier to protect himself this way, protect himself fully and completely this way. "Yes?", Tenzou asks somewhat bitterly.

For a mere second, Kakashi looks a little suspicious at Tenzou, but shrugs it off and smiles at him, placing his hand on his colleague's shoulder, "Take good care of Naruto. You don't know who's going to end up on your path". Tenzou nods, swallows hard as he looks at the hand on his shoulder for a long moment. He then slowly directs his sight at the older man by letting his gaze follow the man's arm. Their eyes eventually meet, gazes become locked and they share an intense, unexpressive moment together. Both are silent and no one dares to blink as they might lose this very exact moment. The silence lengthens in extent.

All of the sudden, Kakashi approaches Tenzou and pushes him against the wall in mere seconds, pinning him with his body. Even though he still has his mask on, Kakashi places his lips against Tenzou's as he grabs Tenzou's hands with his own and lifts them above Tenzou's head. "Hm, Senpai..!", Tenzou mutters in warning once Kakashi backs slightly down to get some air, but practically pushes his lips against his former student right away after they both have done so.

Tsunade-sama isn't_ that_ far away...

He hungrily kisses the younger man, his own tongue licking, through the mask, the lips of the man under his grasp. Tenzou willingly opens his mouth in response and their tongues attempt to duel as Kakashi releases the man from his grip and picks him up, placing Tenzou's legs around his waist, letting his hands now roam freely across his peer's body. Tenzou immediately rips the damn mask off and their tongues now have the full capacity to explore each other's mouths. As the kiss deepens, Kakashi's hands travel towards the groin of Tenzou and starts to unbutton his pants.

"Senpai!"

"Huh?," Kakashi abruptly looks up and sees Tenzou standing in front of him, his arms still on his sides, "Oh, right.." Tenzou raises one of his eyebrows and shakes his head lightly as he practically hits himself on the forehead, looking away. Kakashi smirks quite devious, "Say, how's this for babysitting and having a sucky team?".

Tenzou immediately looks dangerously at his superior from the corners of his eyes, "You're an ass sometimes, you know that?".

"Hey", Kakashi holds up his hands to defend himself, "It wasn't me. You said it yourself a few days ago". The look on the face of Tenzou shows that he's surprised, lightly baffled as his mouth is ever so slightly open, eyes knotted in confusion. "How do you-," he briefly cuts himself off to regain composure, closing his eyes and opening them a bit later, pouting softly, "What?"

Kakashi slowly approaches Tenzou, "If I re-call well enough, you were drunk. Extremely drunk, but that's what you said". A smirk appears on older man's face as he places his hands in his pockets, standing far too close for Tenzou's comfort. Tenzou's eyes widen and he starts to fumble with his hair as a red shade of pink appears on his cheeks. "Gomen, Senpai…", he mumbles as he looks away, embarrassed and Kakashi can't help himself but find it quite endearing, the look upon the younger man's face. He realizes that, back in the day, he loved making fun of Tenzou. It was easy and yet _so_ interesting, _so_ appealing to him to see his student react in innocence, turning in almost, what seemed like, a fully grown tomato. It humored him and yet touched and tucked at the little strings around his heart, making it skip a beat or two. And it still did, to this very exact day.

Kakashi shrugs, "Don't sweat about it. They're brats, yes, but they're _my_ brats". Tenzou looks up and Kakashi, once more, smiles politely back at him. Tenzou smiles back as he feels how the hotness on his cheeks starts to fade away again.

_Maybe… he's not that bad, after all.. _

Well, not completely, seeing as his Senpai is staring rather creepingly at him. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?", Tenzou abruptly states neutral. Kakashi nods and grins. "Nope. Not a singly bit. Well…", his voice trails off and he cocks his head to the side, lightly, as he fixates his stare on nothing of importance. Tenzou raises an eyebrow, sulking shortly, "Not regarding the fact you've became more perverted and lazy, that is?". Kakashi directly focusses his attention on Tenzou, eyebrow knotted in question as he crosses his arms. "Both Sakura and Naruto have mentioned this and found it most fun to protest against you reading your book during missions, sometimes during training, during _our_ mission. Something about it being perverted. In fact, I believe Naruto-san actually calls them... _porno's_", he pauses and completely focusses his attention onto his superior, hoping he can find some answers, some kind of response in Kakashi's appearance and bodylanguage, may it be shock, disgust or shame, but Kakashi remains silent and nailed to the ground, not changing one bit, he simply and constantly looks at his companion, "What's all that about?"

Kakashi shrugs and looks away, his fingers going through his hair as he says; "I have no idea what they're talking about". After a brief moment, he focusses his attention back onto Tenzou, locking their gazes. He looks more serious than ever, "But I've known you longer than today. Is it honestly about a single and simple damn little book?". Tenzou hangs his head down, looking away as he lets his arms hang by his sides. Kakashi squints his eyes once, "I figured as such. Are you ever going to tell me what's it all about?".

Tenzou looks at him from the corners of his eyes once more for mere seconds. Feeling slightly disappointed and figuring that his comrade isn't going to inform him and the fact that there's nothing left to speak about, Kakashi smiles politely. "All right. Well, I wish you guys all the best luck with your mission", he says as he passes Tenzou, making his way to the exit and not making a single attempt at eye contact.

Tenzou completely hangs his head down and bites on his lower lip, "Why did you leave?".

"Hmm?", Kakashi stops dead in his tracks. "What happened? I mean, caused you to leave our unit?", Tenzou asks cautiously, biting his lower lip fiercely as he directs his gaze towards Kakashi, who doesn't seem to be turning around, so that he is now facing his back. It remains silent for a couple of minutes and Tenzou lets his head hang again. He nods to himself. "Fine. If you don't even want to tell me that, I suppose you really don't care about me at all", Tenzou says and hurt is obvious in his tone. It's only a matter of seconds before the tears start to well up in his eyes and with a single gesture, he disappears with a light poof.

Kakashi then finally starts to slowly turn round. The same hurt visible in his eyes.

* * *

Yes, yes, I do love teasing you guys.

"Silly author, this chapter doesn't make sense whatsoever".

I know, I know. I just couldn't help myself. You'll see. For now, I made two references to actually make the story make more sense (references to chapter 2 - Naruto and Sakura, with the babysitting and chapter 5 - the books/leaving).

Anyhoe, thank you all for reading, reviewing and being so kind. See you all in the next one!


	13. A mini vacation

Chapter 13  
A mini-vacation

* * *

"That bastard, I can't believe..!", Tenzo mutters under his breath as he's practically running through his bedroom, going through his clothes. He's packing to go on a mission - with team 7, _Kakashi's_ team. The very same man who admitted that his Kohai meant _nothing_ to him, that he simply _did not care_.

He groans as he lets himself fall down on his bed, face first, continuing to mutter, "How did I get myself into this situation?". Running away seemed very tempting, but that would always mean he had to abandon everyone. And that was the one thing that he would never do. Tenzo had always been a very loyal shinobi. He would never betray Konohagakure, in fact - he would give his life for it.

He sighs. "Great," he pauses and lifts his head up, "Going on a mission with those three..". After a couple of minutes, he manages to cool himself down. He rises to his feet, wipes the tears from his eyes and continues packing. He hopes to leave some of the emotions he'd been dealing with as of late behind and deal with the matters at hand - a new mission, _without_ Kakashi-san.

_Mweh, now I think of it, it actually shouldn't be too bad._

It might as well be the mini-vacation he'd desperately needs.

* * *

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being gone such a long time. I can't believe it has been over a year. I feel old. Some shit happened and I got caught up in it, forgetting about my creative hobbies. But - the shit has been cleaned and we're ready to go-go again.

Short chapter is short. I'll make it up to you guys in the next one. I'm doubting whether or not I'll skip the upcoming mission or just write a couple of shit long chapters and deal with it. Probably the latter one.

I just realized I said a lot of shit. Shit.

_I promise to not stay away for a whole year. Pinky promise. _


	14. We need to talk

Chapter 14  
We need to talk

* * *

He rushes packing, practically stuffing his clothes into his bag and makes his way to the rendezvous point, where he's supposed to meet team 7. Though, upon arrival, he wishes he never said "yes" to the mission in the first place.

"But – but, Sakura-chan," Naruto pauses to pout, "It's unfair! I don't see why _I _have to come with you guys..."

Sakura, who's about to send a protesting Naruto flying through the air, mutters angrily as she grabs a hold of Naruto's ear, "You're not going to leave me alone with _him_, are you?!". She softly nods her head towards the direction of their recently new-found profit and team member: Sai.

"Oh, boy", Tenzo whispers to himself as he lands in the middle of the heat, with Sakura and Naruto to his right and lonesome Sai to his left. Hoping to skip the fighting, or atleast subdue it just a tad by more or less ignoring it, he goes straight to business.

Even though he feels immensely awkward, standing in between.

"Are you ready?", he asks, hoping that the tone of his voice doesn't give away how much he's actually feeling insecure. And immediately, he regrets asking this as Naruto sees this as an oppertunity to vent some more and starts to complain right away – again.

The entire time.

"Why do I have to take a break from training to go on some mission?", Naruto bitterly protests, hands behind his head as he's still pouting.

"It can't be helped!, Sakura brings in, "It's a mission, after all".

"Yeah, but there are missions and there are _missions_".

Tenzo sighs, feeling more and more awkward by the minute, _"So, this is how it's going to be the whole time..."_

"Damn, Granny Tsunade!", he's still pouting, "She's giving us this lame missions for some stupid incident!"

"Hey Naruto", a voice suddenly says, causing Naruto to abruptly stop dead in his tracks. Tenzo, who had been deep in thought until then and walking behind Naruto, almosts bumps up against his peer because of it. And as Tenzo peeks around Naruto to discover who it was, he quickly notices that it had been Shikamaru.

"How's the training going?", Shikamaru asks, calm as ever and hands in his pockets. He reminds Tenzo of someone.

"It's on pause while I go on some mission!", Naruto protrudes his lips even further in pure objection and folds his arms before his chest. Like a child when it doesn't get what it wants and it starts to do pretty much anything to get some, if any, attention, hoping that someone will grant its whishes, may the last resort be holding its breath until it sees blue due to the lack of oxigen.

"Are you guys going on one now, too, Ino?", Sakura ignores Naruto, as team 8 provides for good distraction when you've heard Naruto whine non-stop for the last 10 minutes. Ino nods, smirking wide, "Yes! It's the first time in a while we've all – "

"Everyone's gathered together!", a high-pitched voice suddenly squeels, interrupting Ino.

"Konohamaru?", Naruto asks surprised as the young boy and his entourage approaches.

"Naruto-niichan, are you going on a mission?", Konohamaru innocently asks, not aware of the turmoil it had caused.

_"Oh, no",_ Tenzo mutters under his breath, hoping Naruto won't continue moping around.

"Yeah, sure am," Naruto sighs, "What? You were out searching for a cat again?"

Konohamaru smirks and holds the cat up, "That's right! This is our seventh one now! We're pros at this".

"I see," Naruto smirks widely back, "You're really working hard!"

As Tenzo watches the two converse in front of him, master and student, he smiles sadly and immediately feels his stomach twitching and turning in agony, that gut wrenching feeling that warns him, _reminds_ him. He starts to feel sick to his stomach.

_I have a feeling that it's going to be a long, long day._

He distances himself from his past, his memories and forgotten feelings. He looks up as he quickly removes his hand from his stomach, unknown until then that he had clutched his uniform very tightly in his hand. He briefly looks around, still tasting the bittersweet taste of his beloved memories, _"Thank goodness nobody saw.."._

"I feel a lot more pumped up now than I did a little while ago!"

Tenzo lightly shakes his head as if to fully awaken himself and takes in his surroundings; Konohamaru seems to have left and Naruto looks fully-recharged.

"Well, you'll always be able to continue your training regardless of your mission", Asuma smirks as a sweatdrop appears on Tenzo's forehead, _"There goes my vacation"._

"Now, don't forget what I told you: thin and sharp!"

Asuma manages to pump Naruto up, exciting him so much that he sprints off, "Okay! Time for team Yamato to head on out!"

"Wait up!", Sakura and Sai run eagerly after Naruto, but Asuma stops Tenzo and looks at him suspiciously, giving him a look over from head to toe and back.

"Are you the team's captain?"

A small blush appears, "Right. Kaka'-senpai had another mission to take care of". He doesn't particularly like the look Asuma gives him, but with each passing look, he was growing more and more accustomed to it. Besides, he had to play pretend that all was well and that he was, in fact, a capable replacement for the beloved and famous Copy Nin', even against populair belief.

"Take care of Naruto", Asuma seriously says.

He nods in agreement, "I will".

"Hey Captain Yamato, you're falling behind!", Naruto abruptly shouted from a far, waving for Tenzo to hurry his ass up so that they could finally leave.

_"Now, look who's impatient.._", Tenzo smirks to himself.

Tenzo bows to Asuma, acknowledging his superiority and runs towards his new team, screaming and waving like a mad man, "Sorry!".

From a distance, and unknown to all eight shinobi, Kakashi is watching them.

He can't help but smirk, "What a fool".

He shakes his head lightly before silently disappearing into oblivion.

* * *

"He's improving with amazing speed, but it still won't be easy for him to develop a new technique".

"I'd think not," the Fifth Hokage responded, "Sorry to interrupt you at a time like this, Kakashi. I'd like you to team up with Jiraiya and search for clues about what Akatsuki is up to".

She looks away, speaking a little softer this time, "I wanted to give Naruto time to train, but...". Her voice trails off.

"Naruto is pushing himself too much in order to further his training as fast as he can," he pauses and smirks to himself, unknown to the untrained eyes of the Gondaime, "At the rate he was going, even with Yamato there, I was getting worried that his chakra would go out of control again".

The silver haired man looks away, remembering the little argument he had with his former apprentice. "I don't think this decision is a mistake", he sternly replies in a soft whisper, joy faded away from his invisible expression.

The Fifth Hokage nods, giving Kakashi a strict look, "Good luck".

Kakashi bows and disappears once more.

The Hokage immediately lets out a sigh of relief, one that she was holding in the entire time, as she stares at the spot where her precious Jounin had been previously standing.

* * *

"Let's hurry up and finish this mission so I can get back to my training!", Naruto eagerly says, marching frantically in front.

"Hey," Sakura warns him, "Don't let you're guard down just because this is a B-rank mission".

Naruto scoffs, "I know, I know".

The young Jinchuurikin smiles as widely as he can, infecting Tenzo with the very same size of smile.

It took them a while before they reached and passed any kind of neighbouring village and in time, Naruto's eagerness had lopsided and eventually, completely faded away. Especially when they constantly had to stop because Naruto's gaze had once more fallen upon a leaf, so he had to try and cut it in half.

Annoyingly, Sakura places a hand against her side as Naruto tries, for what seems, the fifth time that day.

"Get a move on, Naruto!," she pauses to see if Naruto makes any kind of movement, but no luck – Naruto desperately continues his training, eyes firmly shut, "We'll leave you behind!".

At days like this, Tenzo surely loves her presence. She was as dangerous and threatening as ever, but it was luckily directed at someone else, at someone beside himself. She actually helped him regain and hold onto what was left of a leaderfigure, with Tenzo suddenly filling in and not everyone being oh so grateful that Kakashi had abandoned them. With Tenzo, of course, being regarded as a sloppy replacement.

All of the sudden, Tenzo's ripped from his thoughts as he notices how Sakura has turned to direct herself at him, shrugging and holding her hands up in the air in defeat, as if to say, "I don't know what to do else. I give up".

Tenzo shakes his head. Naruto would never listen to him all by himself, acknowledging his leadership, especially not when it came down to valuable training time, he realizes. Even more so if Naruto didn't even listen to his ferocious peer. And now, as he was watching the young blonde shinobo do his best to succeed in his training, he couldn't help but admire him.

Though, he would never tell him.

A smirk tugs at the corners of his lips.

He'd get back at him for delaying them _and_ their mission.

* * *

The sun had finally set and darkness was upon them, with the moon being the only yet petty origin of light - an idea had simmered into Tenzo's mind.

_Oh, yes._

Earlier, Tenzo had made a campfire, to keep his students warm, but also to keep wild animals at bay. Not that team 7 wouldn't cope, they would just fine, but just in case.

He had left them by themselves, all alone, informing them that he would be looking for wood – which, of course, was suspicious itself, as he was a wood user, but no one seemed to notice nor question it.

With his plan set into motion, he ruffles through his pouch, only mere meters away from the triplet.

"What's keeping Captain Yamato?", Naruto suddenly wonders. He hadn't seen their Captain in quite a while. Sakura lets her head hang, closes her eyes after rolling them first. A small blush appears, one she desperately tries to hide from her teammates, "He's a grown man, he'll be fine".

"Really, I wonder where he went off to! Shouldn't we look for him or something?"

A rustle of leaves from the bushes behind them is heard. Immediately, all three look at the same direction. A dark silhouette with heavy footsteps approaches. Shoulders hung and skew, his whole body is slanted. He's dragging one of his feet along.

Caught off guard, the three younger ones are now completely vulnerable for an attack.

"Captain Yamato?", Naruto hesitantly asks, a pinch of anxiety escaping his throat, gasping as he gets a little worried - the silhouette comes closer and closer. Slowly, but steadily.

No response, though.

Until the silhouette abruptly stops.

His face is lightly touched by the light coming from the moon, but one can't clearly see or make out who it is – until the silhouette suddenly flicks a flashlight on, revealing a face covered with blisters and open wounds, with maggots creeping out of them and a horrific, ghoul-like expression plastered on its face. It doesn't stink, but _reeks_ of death.

Naruto immediately sits back a few inches, trembling as the whole face of the silhoutte is lit. It's strict, deadpan.

"Yikes", Naruto hisses through gritted teeth.

It takes him a few seconds to regain his posture and realize that his captain has fooled him _and_ his fellow team members. Of course, Tenzo laughs good-heartedly at the responses of the triplet.

"Don't scare us like that!"

Tenzo takes a seat, "Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help it". _Yes, I got him!_

"Your acting is always so serious and totally scary, Captain Yamato!"

Tenzo chuckles, taking in the moment and feeling quite pleased with himself right now. "It's really worthwhile teasing you, Naruto".

Sakura sighs and shakes her head. _Just a couple of little boys._ She then looks up and points at her Captain, "Are you going to take that off, or do I have to keep looking at it? It's rather disgusting".

Tenzo mildly cocks his head, confused. It takes him a second to realize, as Sakura's furiously pointing at her face, that she means the nasty transformation of his face.

"Oh, right..", he awkwardly grins as a small blush appears on his cheeks. He immediately starts to remove the make-up and bugs as Naruto watches him closely from a distant, horrified.

"But Captain", Sakura continues as their Captain cleans himself, "About what we were talking about earlier...". On purpose, she changes the subject, "Why would someone violate a grave?"

It works. Tenzo immediately focusses onto their mission.

The rest of the evening is spend talking about their mission, with Tenzo attempting to scare the hell out of Naruto every now and then and actually succeeding in doing so.

Each went their own way, towards their bags and sleeping bags and so did Tenzo. As he starts to unpack whilst grabbing his sleeping bag, a small piece of paper falls out. Tenzo raises an eyebrow. He has never seen it before.

"I didn't put that there", he mutters as he grabs the piece of paper and thoroughly inspects it. He sees something written on it, on the backside. It seems to be written in haste, with difficult to read letters and some smudging here and there. The eyebrow arches further upward when he recognizes the handwriting, or, well – _scribble._

"We need to talk, as soon as possible."

There was no signature, but he didn't need one. He never had to guess, either. No one would ever leave him notes: he didn't have any close bounds, with any one – besides, "Kaka'-Senpai".

Tenzo unwillingly grabs his sleeping bag, but not before fully checking his whole bag for any other hidden notes or surprises, just in case, knowing his dearest Senpai - there weren't any. He rolls his sleeping bag out, lays down and holds the note once more in front of him, carefully searching for a hidden meaning.

He isn't looking forward to their little chitchat about Kami knows what. The gut wrenching feeling rises again as he knows he can hardly get out of this. Kakashi has always been a persistent bastard, why should now be any different? If he wants to talk, then that talk is going to happen. No matter what - or where. However, if Tenzo could, by any chance, prolong it or even delay it so until it never occured, he certainly wouldn't mind it.

Besides, the two of them were on seperate missions. It would take some time before they could see each other and meet. Even if both of their missions would take a considerable amount of time, Tenzo could always hide himself from his Senpai. This was him at his best – making himself invisible to others, but as the two men had worked together for such a long time, Kakashi probably knew this and would probably be prepared.

He had to try his best.

"What does that even mean, _'We need to talk'_?"

* * *

I had to upload today, because it's Tenzo's birthday. Yay. Happy birthday Mr. Woody!

I tried to make this my longest chapter in MusoukaS history, but I failed. I needed 1000 more words and that's not going to happen, especially if you know what's going to come. And you will hate me for it. I already know. But please, be gentle with me. _Please._ (there probably won't be any Kakashi in it, tho)

Can any of you see some small (some quite big and repeatedly) hints that I've left here?

Hope you enjoy and see you in the next one!


	15. Preoccupied

Chapter 15  
Preoccupied

* * *

The next morning, Tenzo was the first one to be up and about. Well, to be honest, he didn't even sleep. He simply couldn't fall sleep, just _couldn't_. His mind had been previously preoccupied with pondering, pondering little escape routes within Konogakure the minute they got back home, secret routes as to how he could do his grocery without anyone seeing him, anyone, routes that lead to the library and Hokage tower without the public eye even being able to lay as much as a gaze upon him.

Suffice to say, he was constantly trying to come up with reasons and ways to escape the persistent claws of one particular man, to not see him within the close proximity of the stone walls of the city, especially not with the prospect of this little talk coming forth. He didn't want to talk. What was there to say? What was this talk even about?

He knew, deep down, though, what that talk was going to be about. He just knew it - no, he _felt_it. Tenzo knew he had been acting very strange as of late, especially around his Senpai. He wanted answers, Tenzo was positive. But he wasn't all too sure if he could provide them. He was confused himself. Spending time in ANBU together made him care deeply for his Senpai. This bond came with the job, to rely purely and solely on your team members; your life is on the line every day.

Though - when he suddenly left, he was heartbroken, their bond shattered. He pondered these last few days what his true motive was for agreeing to take charge of Team Kakashi - was it to retrieve and feel once more, however brief, what they had so many years ago? What they shared? Was it for payback? Or was it to prevent Team Kakashi from going through the same rollercoaster of emotions?

He packed his sleeping bag, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and yawned. Today was going to be a long day. He slightly moaned, reluctant, his mood unhappy, worried, tired, with anxiety deep within him slowly creeping up. It was going to be a long day, indeed.

* * *

They'd been walking for several hours, and once more, the darkness is upon them, descended. For once, Tenzo is thrilled to not have a whiny Naruto - which was unlike him, but scaring the shit out of him before going to bed yesterday had proven to be a most useful cause. All of the sudden, his eyes are drawn to a vaguely looking stone from afar on the side of the road.

"Hmm", he mutters. He approaches it with the team, leading them and looks around when he recognizes the landmark, "This is the rendezvous point".

"Some people from the Fire Temple are supposed to come meet us here", he places his hands onto his hips. The rest of the team nods. He looks up, eyes directed at the moon and he frowns, "We'll have to kill some time before they do, though".

Sakura sighs and sits down beside the landmark, fatigue slowly embracing her. Tenzo cocks his head at her. Naruto, on the other hand, smirks mischievous to himself as he pretends to yawn, stretching himself, "Oh, man. I'm tired, too"

Sakura slowly closes her eyes as her arms embrace her legs, pulling them closer to her chest. Naruto takes a seat beside her and mimics her. Immediately, her eyes shoot open and she gazes at Tenzo for a few seconds. He gives her a shrug back as he casually places a hand against a tree, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. She blushes. Sakura then looks back at Naruto and grits her teeth. With all her might and strength, she pushes him harshly against (well, more in) the nearest tree.

"Hey, ass, you're irritating me. You can sit over there!"

"Okay now. Don't make so much noise", Tenzo warns, fulfilling his role as Captain in command, hoping not to attract unwelcome visitors, even though he's highly amused by her reaction and has difficulty hiding the increasing grin on his face.

A few hours pass and all have decided to take some rest, and while Tenzo's eyes are starting to become heavy, his mind is starting to work more slowly due to the lack of sleep and the chirping of the crickets are lullabying him, he must remain awake.

"They're late," he mumbles, "I wonder if we've got the wrong landmark".

He suppresses a sigh and gets back on his feet, a single hand on his hip this time, "I'm going to have a look over there". Both Sai and Sakura get up as well.

"I'll go, too", Sakura chips in.

"Huh?", Naruto blinks lazily a couple of times, "Then I'm going, too." Sakura turns around and watches how Naruto starts to get on his feet, a small shadow of a smile is present on her face, making her look as if she's up to something as her hands are firmly placed onto her hips, "You and Sai wait here. We might end up just missing them".

Naruto pouts childishly, "Fine".

Sakura beams cheerfully and grabs her bag, quickly following Tenzou's footsteps to catch up. "Say, Captain Yamato..?", she asks him hesitantly when she does.

"Yes, Sakura?", he replies, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. She places her hands on her back, entwining her fingers as she gives him a soft smile. She looks so young, so carefree.

"Out of team 7, who's the one you prefer pairing up with?"

A single eyebrow is raised as he fully directs his attention at her, he immediately spots the flushing of her cheeks, "Why do you ask, Sakura?".

"No reason", she replies all too sweetly and innocently for his liking. He decides to brush it off, though, as the alarm bells aren't immediately ringing with approaching danger. There's surely no harm in it. What's the worst thing that could happen anyways?

"I suppose…", he begins and pauses to think for a brief moment, index finger and thumb caressing his chin, gaze upwards towards the dark sky visible through the forest, "it would be you".

"Oh, really?", she squeals a bit from excitement, but it's hardly noticeable and she immediately corrects herself on the spot. She smiles widely, warmly and Tenzo can't help but smile back just the same.

* * *

Oh my gosh, how have you guys been? I know, I know. I should've written more, but I've been caught up with other things and my love for Naruto, to be honest, has been going back and forth (and there's still no sight of Tenzo, only a minor mention, ugh).

Hope you like this little chapter. Can you tell what's going to come? Also, there's more to come, I promise - soon. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, it means the world to me. Until the next time!


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